By 9.06am, the local currency had depreciated to 4.3270/4.3310 against the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.3250/4.3280.

Bank Negara’s monetary policy committee meeting, where a decision on interest rates will be made, begins today.

Investors also stayed at the sidelines as they await the release of a string of economic data that is expected to be a major driver of the market, according to ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz.

Among the most important numbers to be released later is US retail sales.

Retail sales measures how much households are spending, which generally represents about two-thirds of gross domestic product.

Other figures include the consumer price index, which will shed light on the latest inflation trends in the UK and the EU, while the Bank of Japan’s interest rate decision could also have a strong impact on the market.

“With so much data to be released in the next few hours, it’s natural for investors to ‘wait and see’ before taking new investment decisions,” Diniz told Bernama.

“However, if the data is in line with expectations, the ringgit may continue its upward movement towards 4.2450 against the US dollar, where it could find some temporary support,” he added.

The ringgit traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except the euro.

The local unit fell to 5.3131/5.3180 against the British pound from 5.2804/5.2841 at yesterday’s close, eased against the Singapore dollar to 3.2758/3.2793 from 3.2683/3.2711 previously, and depreciated vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.3592/3.3628 from 3.3582/3.3608.

However, it appreciated versus the euro to 4.6684/4.6727 from 4.6788/4.6820 yesterday.