This came on the back of China’s weaker economic data and amid jitters ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) minutes to be released on Wednesday.

Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said China data took centre stage after fixed-asset investment shrank 1.6% in the first four months of 2026, against expectations for 1.7% growth.

“In addition, retail sales grew at a significantly slower rate of 0.2% (year-on-year) during April after posting 1.7% growth in the previous month while the industrial production growth moderated to 4.1% from 5.7% previously.

“Hence, the April figures showed China’s economy is slowing amid the supply shock in the oil and gas sector following the Iran war which erupted on Feb 28 this year. As such, market sentiment was cautious throughout the day,” he told Bernama.

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

At 6 pm, the ringgit depreciated to 3.9720/3.9770 versus the greenback from 3.9515/3.9580 at last Friday’s close.

It strengthened versus the British pound to 5.3078/5.3145 from 5.3094/5.3135 at Friday’s close, but fell against the Japanese yen to 2.4991/2.5024 from 2.4886/2.4907 at the end of last week and slid vis-a-vis the euro to 4.6214/4.6272 from 4.6009/4.6044 previously.

The local currency traded easier against regional peers.

It eased versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1036/3.1078 from 3.0867/3.0893 on Friday, fell against the Philippine peso to 6.43/6.45 from 6.37/6.38 previously, weakened vis-a-vis the Thai baht to 12.1646/12.1848 from 12.1506/12.1652, and slipped against the Indonesian rupiah to 224.8/225.1 from 224.1/224.4.