At 6pm, the local currency slid to 4.5495/4.5515 against the greenback from 4.5340/4.5365 at last Thursday’s close.

The market was closed last Friday in conjunction with the Malaysia Day celebration.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Firdaos Rosli said the local currency was also pressured by firmer US retail sales and jobless claim data, which would push the US Federal Reserve to continue its tough stance against inflation. “This would allow the Fed to increase its interest rates, which could (have a negative) impact on emerging currencies, including the ringgit,” he told Bernama.

Nevertheless, he said, the local currency had been strengthening against other major currencies over the past few weeks due to the country’s economic fundamentals and prospects that have remained solid amid the gradual labour market recovery.

“However, the ringgit will likely remain weak against the US dollar amid the market’s anticipation of a full percentage point hike, or at least 75 basis points (when the Fed meets tomorrow and Wednesday),” he said.

As such, he reckons that the local currency would trade between RM4.55 and RM4.57 against the US dollar this week.

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

It went down against the euro to 4.5372/4.5392 from 4.5317/4.5342 at last Thursday’s close, depreciated versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2261/3.2278 from 3.2238/3.2261, and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.1706/3.1724 from 3.1647/3.1666 previously.

However, the local currency gained against the British pound at 5.1678/5.1700 from 5.2214/5.2242 last week.