Yesterday, Powell indicated that the US central bank’s next interest rate move is unlikely to be a hike after the higher-than-expected US producer price index data released last night, which climbed 2.2% year-on-year in April.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said the regional currencies were also displaying a similar trend by continuing to appreciate against the greenback.

“While the timing for a rate cut remains an open debate, at least we can safely rule out a rate hike by the Fed.

“It’s a question of how long the Fed will maintain its restrictive monetary stance and whether it will be successful in bringing the inflation rate towards the 2% target,” he told Bernama.

Next, the market will monitor the release of the US consumer price index tonight and Malaysia’s economic data on Friday.

At 6pm, the ringgit rose to 4.7050/4.7075 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.7160/4.7190.

The ringgit traded lower at the close against a basket of major currencies.

It depreciated versus the Japanese yen to 3.0189/3.0207 from yesterday’s close of 3.0161/3.0182, slid vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9391/5.9423 from 5.9158/5.9195 yesterday, and fell against the euro to 5.0941/5.0968 from 5.0900/5.0932 previously.

The local currency also traded lower against Asean currencies.

It decreased against the Singapore dollar to 3.4873/3.4894 from 3.4848/3.4873 at yesterday’s close and inched down vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 293.5/293.8 from 292.7/293.3 previously.

It also fell versus the Thai baht to 12.8735/12.8867 from 12.8596/12.8730 yesterday and eased against the Philippine peso to 8.17/8.19 from 8.15/8.16.