Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid said mixed signals from US Federal Reserve (Fed) officials, along with weakening economic data, make the call for a rate cut in September look increasingly daunting.

“Thus far, the odds for a 25-basis points rate cut in September are about 84% based on the federal funds futures contract,” he told Bernama.

The FOMC minutes meeting will be released next Friday, Aug 22.

He said the US producer price index (PPI) for July, released last week, was much higher than expected, with the headline PPI rising 3.3% on an annual basis, the largest increase since February, when core PPI increased 3.7%.

“So, the impression is that inflation risk would limit the odds for a rate cut,” he added.

At 6pm, the local currency slid to 4.2200/4.2240 from last Friday’s close of 4.2085/4.2155.

At the close, the ringgit settled mixed against a basket of major currencies.

It strengthened against the Japanese yen to 2.8632/2.8661 from last Friday’s close of 2.8653/2.8702.

However, it slid against the British pound to 5.7139/5.7193 from 5.7050/5.7145 at the end of last week and eased vis-a-vis the euro to 4.9290/4.9336 from 4.9185/4.9267.

The ringgit traded lower against Asean currencies.

It decreased against the Singapore dollar to 3.2902/3.2936 from 3.2820/3.2877 at last Friday’s close and weakened against the Thai baht to 12.9942/13.0121 from 12.9760/13.0032.

The local currency also declined vis-a-vis the Philippine peso to 7.40/7.42 from 7.37/7.39 previously and edged down against the Indonesian rupiah to 260.4/260.9 from 260.2/260.8.