As a result, an analyst said, the ringgit will continue to remain weak.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Afzanizam Rashid noted that while the US President and House Speaker are committed to resolve the issue, tangible results have yet to emerge.

Over and above that, data on the US retail sales — a barometer for consumer spending, which accounts for more than two-thirds of the US economy — came in weaker than expected.

Retail sales improved to 0.4% month-on-month (m-o-m) in April after two consecutive months of decline but, as Afzanizam pointed out, it was still lower than the consensus estimate of 0.7%.

“This shows that the economic outlook for household spending (in the US) remains challenging,” he told Bernama.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said that if the USD/MYR ratio rose above the 4,5050 level, it could weaken the ringgit further to 4.5750 in just a few days.

On the other hand, if it drops below 4.4650, there will be room for a further improvement for the ringgit to 4.3650, he said.

The ringgit began the day at 4.5130/4.5175 versus the greenback from yesterday’s closing rate of 4.4975/4.5005.

However, it was traded mostly higher against a basket of major currencies.

It strengthened vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.6349/5.6406 versus 5.6367/5.6405 at the close yesterday and climbed against the Japanese yen to 3.3074/3.3110 from 3.3126/3.3150 previously, but eased against the euro to 4.9056/4.9105 from 4.8991/4.9024 yesterday.

The local note also traded mostly lower against Asean currencies.

It slid against the Indonesian rupiah to 304.4/304.9 from 303.4/303.8 yesterday, slipped to 3.3684/3.3720 against the Singapore dollar compared with 3.3659/3.3686 yesterday and depreciated against the Philippines’ pesos at 8.03/8.05 from 8.02/8.03 previously, but strengthened vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 13.2218/13.2404 from 13.2400/13.2547 at the close yesterday.