Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Afzanizam Rashid said the latest data on the US employment situation could likely prompt the US Federal Reserve (Fed) to postpone any plan it may have to raise interest rates.

The initial jobless claims came in at 261,000 last week, higher than the consensus estimate of 235,000, indicating a weaker-than-expected job market.

Afzanizam told Bernama the latest data revealed that there could be a pause in the rate hike cycle at the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting next week.

This, he said, could lead to a devaluation of the US dollar and, by extension, a gain for the ringgit as soon as today.

The ringgit began trading at 4.6030/4.6100 versus the greenback today compared with yesterday’s closing of 4.6185/4.6235.

However, it fell against other major currencies such as the Japanese yen, British pound and euro.

Against the yen, it opened at 3.3103/3.3156, down from yesterday’s close of 3.3041/3.3079.

It also slipped against the euro, opening at 4.9630/4.9705 from yesterday’s close of 4.9557/4.9610 as well as the pound against which it dropped to 5.7786/5.7874 from 5.7537/5.7600 yesterday.

However, it made gains against most other Asean currencies.

It rose to 3.4271/3.4326 against the Singapore dollar from 3.4290/3.4332 at yesterday’s close and strengthened against the Indonesian rupiah to 308.9/309.6 from 310.0/310.5 yesterday.

The ringgit also gained on the Philippine peso to open at 8.22/8.24, up from 8.23/8.24 previously.

On the other hand, it declined against the Thai baht to 13.2992/13.3245 from 13.2647/13.2848 yesterday.