KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 15 — The ringgit retreated on profit-taking to end easier against the US dollar today after six consecutive days of gains, dealers said.

At 6pm, the local note fell to 4.1560/1590 versus the greenback from Thursday’s closing of 4.1525/1560.

A dealer said the US dollar remained steady on improving optimism over a global recovery.

"The news that the US initial Jobless Claims data came in well below expectations while the Producer Price Index data was slightly above expectations remained supportive to the greenback,” he said.

Bank Islam chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit was stronger in the morning session against the US dollar, moving to as low as RM4.1543 before retreating to RM4.1573 in the afternoon session.

"However, the ringgit looks like still benefitting from higher commodity prices. Optimism over the reopening of the economy and recent rallies in crude oil and crude palm oil prices have continued to offer support to the local currency,” he told Bernama.

The ringgit was also traded mostly lower against a basket of major currencies except the Japanese yen.

It depreciated against the British pound to 5.7049/7091 from 5.6985/7033 at Thursday’s close and slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.0824/0849 compared with 3.0807/0835 yesterday.

The local note also fell vis-a-vis the euro to 4.8222/8257 from 4.8215/8255 on Thursday but advanced versus the yen to 3.6341/6368 from 3.6638/6672 previously. — Bernama