“We believe a downward trajectory can be expected for the ringgit against the US dollar throughout the day,” Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist and social finance head Afzanizam Rashid said.

He attributed the negative sentiment to the hawkish stance on interest rate hikes taken by major central banks across the globe.

From the US to Europe, indications are that interest rates will continue to rise in an attempt to soften inflation.

The ringgit extended its downtrend to open lower against the US dollar this morning as the greenback continued to strengthen on encouraging economic data, Bernama reported.

At 9am, the local note fell to 4.6630/4.6670 versus the greenback compared to 4.6525/4.6580 at yesterday’s close.

ActivTrades trader Dyogenes Rodrigues Diniz said the US dollar’s upward movement was driven by the higher-than-expected US existing home sales data.

“The report helps to gauge the strength of the US housing market and is a key indicator of overall economic strength, and the strong reading helped lift the dollar further,” he told Bernama.

However, the ringgit was traded higher against a basket of major currencies.

It was slightly higher versus the British pound at 5.9439/5.9490 from 5.9496/5.9567 at yesterday’s close, rose against the Japanese yen to 3.2588/3.2618 from 3.2776/3.2817 and strengthened vis-a-vis the euro to 5.1083/5.1127 from 5.1182/5.1243 previously.

However, the local note traded mostly lower against other Asean currencies.

The ringgit went up against the Singapore dollar to 3.4677/3.4709 versus 3.4697/3.4740 at yesterday’s close, but declined against the Thai baht to 13.2796/13.2978 from 13.2720/13.2934 yesterday.

It also dropped against the Philippine peso to 8.39/8.40 from 8.36/8.38 at the close yesterday, and declined against the Indonesian rupiah to 312.0/312.5 from 311.3/311.9 previously.