Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the weaker-than-expected US retail sales for May have led to a decrease in the US Dollar Index (DXY) to 105.241 points.

It was reported that the US retail sales data for May had grown at a slower pace of 0.1% against the projected 0.2%.

“Such data supports the view that the US Federal Reserve is on track to cut the interest rate this year,” he told Bernama.

At 6pm, the ringgit advanced to 4.7055/4.7075 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.7110/4.7155.

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

The local unit depreciated against the Japanese yen to 2.9806/2.9821 from yesterday’s close of 2.9798/2.9828, weakened vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.9896/5.9922 from 5.9750/5.9807 and slid versus the euro to 5.0518/5.0540 from 5.0492/5.0541 previously.

The ringgit traded mostly lower against its Asean peers.

It went down vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 287.4/287.7 from 287.0/287.3 at yesterday’s close, inched down versus the Thai baht to 12.8257/12.8354 from 12.7874/12.8048 and declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.4832/3.4850 from 3.4793/3.4829.

However, it was higher against the Philippine peso at 8.01/8.01 from 8.03/8.05.