KUALA LUMPUR (July 6): The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar on Thursday (July 6) after the greenback strengthened following the latest minutes from the Federal Reserve's (Fed) meeting indicating a possible interest rate hike in the US.

At 6pm, the local note slipped to 4.6580/6630 against the greenback compared with 4.6485/6555 at Wednesday’s close.

SPI Asset Management managing director Stephen Innes said the latest Fed policy meeting minutes reinforced its hawkishness, which is a catalyst to further strengthen the US dollar.

Bank Negara Malaysia's (BNM) Monetary Policy Committee on Thursday announced the decision to maintain the overnight policy rate at 3%.

The central bank said the Malaysian economy has continued to grow as income and employment remained favourable and would continue to support household spending.

According to Innes, as the BNM holds the rate steady ahead of a widely expected hike by the Fed in July, it widens the expected interest rate between the US dollar and ringgit.

“The next key test for the ringgit will be the US non-farm payroll data due Friday, especially with the Fed in policy reactive rather than pre-emptive mode,” he told Bernama.

At the close, the ringgit was traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies, except vis-a-vis the euro, where it improved to 5.0600/0654 from 5.0641/0717 at Wednesday’s close.

It slipped against the Japanese yen to 3.2323/2359 from 3.2221/2272 and weakened against the British pound to 5.9310/9374 from 5.9101/9190 at the close on Wednesday.

The local note was traded mixed against other Asean currencies

It appreciated against the Thai baht to 13.2881/3088 from 13.3237/3510 on Wednesday and rose against the Indonesian rupiah to 309.3/309.8 from 309.4/310.1.

The ringgit was down versus the Singapore dollar at 3.4458/4497 from 3.4380/4437 on Wednesday’s close and unchanged against the Philippine peso at 8.39/8.40 from 8.39/8.41.