Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the Japanese government has also expressed concerns over the strong greenback as they prepare to address the sliding yen.

According to reports, the Japanese yen weakened to a 10-month low against the dollar, putting traders on alert for more intervention by the Japanese government.

“The US central bank is likely to maintain its restrictive monetary stance, giving support to the US dollar.

“It is giving really mixed signals as to the interest rate’s direction. However, the US Federal Reserve is expected to maintain its hawkish stance in light of the country’s resilient labour market,” he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the local currency fell to 4.6720/4.6765 against the greenback from Tuesday’s close of 4.6615/4.6655.

At the close, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

It decreased against the euro to 5.0145/5.0193 from 5.0088/5.0131 at yesterday’s close, slid against the British pound to 5.8657/5.8713 from 5.8534/5.8585 yesterday and slipped against the Japanese yen to 3.1694/3.1727 from 3.1670/3.1699 previously.

At the same time, the local currency was also traded lower against other Asean currencies.

It depreciated against the Singapore dollar to 3.4308/3.4343 from 3.4238/3.4272 at yesterday’s close and went down versus the Thai baht to 13.1532/13.1710 from 13.1388/13.1567 yesterday.

The local currency also eased against the Indonesian rupiah to 305.5/305.8 from 305.2/305.6 and was slightly lower against the Philippine peso at 8.20/8.21 from 8.19/8.21 previously.