Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the MPC meeting on May 8 will be on traders’ radar.

“We foresee that BNM might lower its policy rate as a pre-emptive measure to provide support for growth,” he told Bernama.

Afzanizam said traders also remained focussed on the two-day US Federal Open Market Committee meeting, which begins May 6.

“The sharp appreciation of the ringgit against the US dollar (previously) may have compelled traders and investors to lock in some gains.

“Additionally, the US Dollar Index (DXY) continues to languish below 100 points at around 99.583 points at present,” he said.

At 6pm, the local note depreciated to 4.2285/4.2360 versus the greenback compared to yesterday’s close of 4.1990/4.2035.

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

It eased versus the Japanese yen to 2.9502/2.9556 from 2.9192/2.9225 at yesterday’s close, inched lower vis-a-vis the euro to 4.7824/4.7909 from 4.7629/4.7680, and weakened against the British pound to 5.6302/5.6402 from 5.5868/5.5928 previously.

Similarly, the ringgit performed weaker against its Asean peers.

It dropped versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2749/3.2812 from yesterday’s close of 3.2644/3.2682 and fell vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.9399/12.9700 from 12.7497/12.7747.

The local note also slid against the Philippine peso to 7.60/7.62 from 7.53/7.54 yesterday and edged down versus the Indonesian rupiah to 257/257.6 from 255.1/255.5.