The ringgit is likely to continue its downward trend against the US dollar next week, owing to bearish sentiment in the global market.

A dealer said China's slowing economic growth and sliding oil prices, among others, would likely weigh on the currencies market next week, including the domestic unit.

He said investors would also be monitoring the release of the US non-farm payrolls released on Friday to further gauge signs of interest rate hike by the US Federal Reserve.

Inter-Pacific Research Sdn Bhd Head of Research Pong Teng Siew said the ringgit would enter a slightly more volatile period next week, influenced by crude oil movement and the release of economic data.

"It has been fairly stable this week. We are still expecting the pace of declining oil price to slow down, and that would mean that the ringgit has a limited downside potential," he told Bernama.

On Friday, Brent crude for October declined 12 cents to US$50.56 per barrel, after reaching an intraday low of US$49.68 per barrel. The US Crude also eased 20 cents to US$46.55 per barrel.

The domestic unit is likely to move around 4.28 and 4.30 in the next one or two weeks, Pong said.

For the week just ended, the ringgit fell against the US dollar to 4.2560/2610 from 4.1950/1050 on Friday.

The local unit declined against the Singapore dollar to 3.0040/0085 from last Friday's 2.9877/9969 and depreciated against the yen to 3.5738/5792 from 3.4721/4812 previously.

It depreciated against the pound sterling to 6.4849/4933 from 6.4561/4732 last week and weakened against the euro to 4.7408/7468 from 4.7349/7470 previously.