The Malaysian ringgit opened lower against the US dollar on Wednesday, weighed down by a stronger US dollar as expectations of an imminent interest rate cut by the United States faded.
At 10am, the ringgit was at 4.2480, down 0.21% against the US dollar from its close of 4.2395 at the end of Tuesday.
Bank Muamalat Malaysia Bhd Chief Economist Dr Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the latest US Consumer Price Index (CPI) report, released on Tuesday, showed inflation accelerating, reducing the possibility of a Fed rate cut this month.
US CPI rose 2.7 per cent year-on-year in June from 2.4 per cent in the previous month, core CPI rose 2.9 per cent in June after maintaining a 2.8 per cent increase for three consecutive months.
In addition, China's economic performance indicated that second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) growth moderated to 5.2 per cent from 5.4 per cent in the previous quarter. The slowdown contributed to a 0.15 percent weakening of the Chinese yuan against the US dollar.
Despite the decline against the US dollar, the ringgit showed resilience against other major currencies.
It strengthened to 2.8552/8618 against the Japanese yen from 2.8702/8734, strengthened to 5.6893/7021 against the British pound from 5.7047/7107, and rose to 4.9311/9421 against the euro from 4.9539/9591.
Against ASEAN currencies, the ringgit performed mixedly.
It rose against the Singapore dollar to 3.3066/3145 from 3.3095/3133 and edged up against the Thai baht to 13.0355/0783 from 13.0784/0988.
However, it depreciated against the Indonesian rupiah to 261.1/261.8 from 260.6/261.0 and depreciated against the Philippine peso to 7.49/7.51 from 7.47/7.49.
