At 9.03am, the local currency eased to 4.4830/4.4860 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4820/4.4840.

Oanda senior market analyst Edward Moya said the US dollar hit a fresh record high on safe-haven flows due to global economic weakness and as the country’s resilient economy paves the way for Federal Reserve (Fed) to remain aggressive in its rate hikes.

“The US economy is still looking good and that should allow the Fed to remain aggressive with policy tightening over the coming months,” he told Bernama.

Notably, the ringgit’s decline was cushioned by the rise in the crude oil price, where the oil benchmark Brent crude increased by 1.28% to US$93.54 per barrel at press time.

Meanwhile, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.

The local unit appreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.1987/3.2011 from yesterday’s close of 3.2028/3.2047 and rose against the British pound to 5.1783/5.1818 from 5.1964/5.1987.

It improved vis-a-vis the euro to 4.4642/4.4672 from 4.4923/4.4943 yesterday, and gained against the Japanese yen to 3.2001/3.2027 from 3.2205/3.2222 previously.