KUALA LUMPUR, March 14 — The ringgit ended lower against the US dollar today as the greenback continued to strengthen and investors loaded up on weekend risk protection, an analyst said.

At 6 pm, the local currency declined to 4.2050/2075 versus the greenback from 4.1940/1975 at Friday’s close.

OANDA senior market analyst Asia Pacific, Jeffrey Halley said the monetary policy divergence is starting to weigh more heavily on Asian currencies with the US Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) expected to announce its latest interest rate decision this week, with hawkish forward guidance.

"The US dollar’s rapid recovery continued as investors turned to how hawkish the FOMC will be and the US yield curve continued flattening.

"Asian currencies are under pressure today and, going forward, those pressures will be amplified as Asia’s central banks will be reluctant to hike with the Fed,” he said.

The ringgit was traded lower against a basket of major currencies except for the Japanese yen, where it appreciated to 3.5666/5690 from 3.5858/5891 at Friday’s close.

The local unit was easier against the British pound at 5.4846/4878 from 5.4828/4874, slipped to 4.6184/6211 vis-a-vis the euro from 4.5991/6030, and weakened against the Singapore dollar to 3.0815/0838 versus 3.0802/0832 on Friday. — Bernama