KUALA LUMPUR, Nov 22 — The ringgit ended easier against the US dollar today as the greenback continues its bullish trend and oil remained under pressure.

At 6pm, the local note weakened to 4.1850/1880 versus the greenback from 4.1810/1850 at Friday’s close.

However, Bank Islam Malaysia Bhd chief economist Mohd Afzanizam Abdul Rashid said the ringgit is making a little progress compared to early morning performance, suggesting that there could be buying interest as the local unit is already hovering within the oversold zone.

Japan was reported exploring ways to release its oil reserves to tackle escalating prices and as the Covid-19 situation in Europe worsened.

In addition, investors are closely monitoring Federal Open Market Committee minutes, which will be published on Thursday and also on US core personal consumption expenditures on Wednesday, he told Bernama.

There are also a slew of Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index PMI indices for the advanced countries especially in Europe, whereby the index is expected to decline based on consensus estimates.

"There has been an increase in new Covid-19 cases and the subsequent measures to restrict human mobility in certain jurisdiction such as Austria and Belgium.

"In that sense, there seems to be a risk-off mode which can bode well for US dollar at the moment. Hence, expect ringgit to stay soft at around the 4.18 level,” he noted.

The local note was traded mixed against a basket of major currencies.

It rose against the Japanese yen to 3.6669/6698 from 3.6675/6714 and strengthened against the euro to 4.7207/7241 from 4.7249/7295 at Friday’s close.

The ringgit fell versus the British pound to 5.6196/6236 from 5.6147/6200 and slipped against the Singapore dollar to 3.0734/0758 from 3.0702/0736. — Bernama