The rupiah further weakened to Rp 14,347 per US dollar on Friday or 0.06 lower than its position the day before, according to the Jakarta interbank spot dollar rate (Jisdor), although other Asian currencies appreciated against the greenback.
Last Friday, the rupiah stood at Rp 14,282 per dollar, but since earlier this week, its exchange rate had hovered above Rp 14,300 per dollar – Rp 14,308 on Monday, Rp 14,309 on Tuesday, Rp 14,305 on Wednesday, and Rp 14,338 on Thursday.
In the foreign exchange spot market, the rupiah stood at Rp 14,367 per dollar at 10:40 a.m. on Friday, slightly weakening from Rp 14,360 the day before.
Meanwhile, a number of regional currencies – the baht of Thailand, yuan of China, won of South Korea, peso of the Philippines, the Singapore dollar, the Taiwan dollar and Hong Kong dollar –strengthened against the dollar.
Only the yen of Japan, rupee of India and ringgit of Malaysia also weakened against the dollar along with the rupiah.
The dollar index stood at 97.36, indicating that the greenback had weakened against other major world currencies.
Brokerage firm Monex Investindo Futures analyst Ahmad Yudiawan said the rupiah was under pressure because of the worsening trade war between the US and China, as the former plans to impose 25 percent import tariffs on a number of products from China.
“Market players are staying away from risk assets, meanwhile, the demand for dollars in emerging countries is increasing,” Bank Permata economist Josua Pardede added as quoted by kontan.co.id.
Josua estimated that the rupiah exchange rate would range between Rp 14,300 and Rp 14,400 per dollar, while according to Ahmad, it would be quoted at between Rp 14, 200 and Rp 14,500 per dollar.
Monday, 13 May 2019 07:03
Rupiah weakens as most Asian currencies strengthen against US dollar
