Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Rashid noted that the ringgit has continued to depreciate against the greenback as the US economy continues to show improvement, cementing a hawkish US interest rate outlook this year.

“The latest print of the US institute for supply management (ISM) index for the manufacturing sector rose to 49.3 points in December, marking its second consecutive month of improvement.

“A strong US economy would mean the Federal Reserve (Fed) would have little incentive to ease its monetary policy further, especially when there is a risk of higher inflation due to policy adjustments by the incoming US administration,” he told Bernama.

He said the ringgit would have to endure a weaker level until more clarity emerges when Donald Trump begins his second term as US president.

At 6pm, the ringgit slid to 4.5090/4.5135 against the US dollar from Friday’s close of 4.4975/4.5030.

The ringgit closed mostly lower against other major currencies.

It strengthened versus the Japanese yen to 2.8583/2.8614 from Friday’s close of 2.8606/2.8643 but weakened against the British pound to 5.6250/5.6306 from 5.5800/5.5869 and fell vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6695/4.6742 from 4.6288/4.6345.

The local currency traded mixed against Asean currencies.

It rose against the Thai baht to 13.0194/13.0308 from 13.0540/13.0753 at the previous close but was lower vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah at 278.3/278.7 compared with 277.6/278.1 previously.

The ringgit went down versus the Singapore dollar to 3.2989/3.3025 from 3.2828/3.2871 and was almost flat compared to the Philippine peso at 7.73/7.75 from 7.73/7.74 on Friday.