KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 8 — The ringgit was seen moving in a tight range against the US dollar at the close of trading today as the greenback gained momentum.

At 6 pm, the local note was slightly better versus the greenback at 4.1530/1555 from 4.1585/1605 at last Friday’s close.

Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said this happens as the Nonfarm Payroll (NFP) in the US rose to 531,000 for October, which is higher than consensus estimates.

This suggests that the labour market is really on the mend with unemployment skidding further to 4.6 per cent in October from 4.8 per cent previously.

The US average hourly earnings expanded by 4.9 per cent during October after delivering 4.6 per cent and 4.1 per cent growth in September and August respectively, he said.

"With the tapering announcement last week by the Federal Reserve, it would mean interest rate normalisation will likely happen in 2022, which would boost the value of the US dollar in the immediate term,” he told Bernama.

At the prevailing exchange rate, Mohd Afzanizam said the ringgit is quite close to its support level of 4.149 against the greenback.

"In that sense, the local note could be hovering around 4.15 as the markets await the third quarter of 2021 gross domestic product (GDP) to be announced this Friday,” he added.

At the close, the ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies.

The local note slipped vis-a-vis the British pound to 5.5991/6024 from 5.5865/5892 at last Friday’s close and fell against the Singapore dollar at 3.0765/0786 from 3.0729/0746.

It also depreciated against the euro to 4.8000/8029 from 4.7997/8020 and declined against the Japanese yen to 3.6606/6628 from 3.6536/6553 previously. — Bernama