At 6pm, the local currency depreciated to 4.4420/4.4460 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.4310/4.4345.

“The same story has been driving Asian currencies weaker, primarily with the market thinking the hotter run of US inflation and economic data will force the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) hand to keep interest rates higher for longer,” he told Bernama.

Innes said with energy prices falling again, “this is another negative impact for the ringgit.” At press time, the benchmark Brent crude oil price fell 1.55% to US$81 per barrel.

The ringgit also traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local unit slipped against the Japanese yen to 3.2935/3.2968 from 3.2910/3.2938 at Tuesday’s close and eased vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3157/3.3189 from 3.3117/3.3148 yesterday.

It also slid versus the euro to 4.7258/4.7301 from 4.7230/4.7267 and dropped against the British pound to 5.3655/5.3703 from 5.3531/5.3573 previously.