The core CPI rose 0.3% month-on-month in August, exceeding the consensus estimate of 0.2%. It has been climbing steadily from 0.1% in June to 0.2% in July.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit was fairly stable during the day against the US dollar, hovering around RM4.33.

“The traders and investors remained guarded on the direction of the US interest rates, especially after the US core CPI came in higher than expected last night.

“This, to some degree, removes some of the odds for aggressive rate cuts by the US Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC),” he told Bernama.

He also noted that next week’s upcoming FOMC meeting has become critically important in determining how far the Federal Reserve (Fed) is willing to ease its restrictive monetary policy stance.

“Hence, their quarter forecast on the Federal Funds Rate and other macroeconomic variables such as the inflation and unemployment rate will be closely monitored next week,” he added.

At 6pm, the local note eased to 4.3330/4.3370 versus the greenback from yesterday’s close of 4.3270/4.3325.

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

It inched up versus the euro to 4.7724/4.7768 from 4.7774/4.7835 at yesterday’s close, gained against the British pound to 5.6550/5.6602 from 5.6623/5.6695 previously, and strengthened vis-a-vis the Japanese yen to 3.0364/3.0395 from 3.0558/3.0599.

The ringgit also traded higher against Asean currencies.

It advanced versus the Thai baht to 12.8351/12.8527 from 12.8523/12.8752 yesterday, improved vis-a-vis the Singapore dollar to 3.3190/3.3224 from 3.3223/3.3268, edged up against the Indonesian rupiah to 280.6/281 from 280.8/281.4, and increased against the Philippine peso to 7.71/7.73 from 7.73/7.75 previously.