KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 — The ringgit extended yesterday’s losses to end lower against the US dollar today, driven by continued profit-taking after recent gains despite the bullish outlook on global oil prices, dealers said.

At the close, the local currency fell to 4.0400/0440 against the US dollar from yesterday’s close of 4.0370/0420.

A dealer said oil prices rose on Thursday, extending this week’s gains and hitting a 13-month high as a cold snap sweeping over Texas and the surrounding region shut at least a fifth of the US refining outputs and a million barrels of crude production.

However, he said investors remained cautious amid lingering COVID-19 pandemic concerns that weighed on positive US economic data.

The local currency was traded lower against other major currencies today.

It fell against the Singapore dollar to 3.0433/0472 from Wednesday’s 3.0388/0432 and went down vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8771/8783 from 4.8710/8783 yesterday.

The ringgit also depreciated against the yen to 3.8218/8263 per 100 yen from 3.8092/8154 on Wednesday and the British pound to 5.6249/6321 from 5.6046/6131 previously. — Bernama