Kuala lumpur: The ringgit declined against the US dollar today as expectations for a United States interest rate cut in December have diminished. This is due to comments by key Federal Reserve (Fed) officials who signalled that interest rates are likely to remain unchanged. At 6 pm, the ringgit edged down to 4.1480/1515 versus the greenback from Friday's close of 4.1290/1345.

According to BERNAMA News Agency, Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd chief economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid stated that remarks from influential Fed officials appear to have lent the needed support to the US dollar, with the DXY Index rising by 0.10 per cent to 99.400 points. He noted that technical indicators have shown that the ringgit is already in an overbought condition, which might compel traders to cash their gains in the currency market.

At the close, the ringgit traded lower against a basket of major currencies. It depreciated versus the yen to 2.6805/6829 from 2.6690/6728 at last Friday's close, fell against the euro to 4.8125/8166 from 4.7983/8047, and slipped vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.4608/4654 from 5.4313/4385 previously.

The ringgit also traded lower against ASEAN currencies. It weakened against the Thai baht to 12.7847/8018 from 12.7356/7580 at last Friday's close, edged down versus the Singapore dollar to 3.1864/1893 from 3.1720/1765, eased vis-a-vis the Indonesian rupiah to 247.8/248.1 from 247.1/247.5, and shed against the Philippine peso at 7.04/7.05 from 6.99/7.00 previously.