Rupiah Remains Weak as Imports Tumble
1 September 2014 19:04 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rupiah continues to weaken despite positive news from Indonesia's domestic market as the US dollar continued its gains. As per 12.30 p.m. Jakarta time, the rupiah slipped by 10 points to trade at Rp 11,700 per US dollar.
According to the latest release by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), Indonesia recorded a transactional surplus of US$ 123,7 million in July 2014. Exports accounted for US$ 14,18 billion, while imports costed Indonesia US$14,05 billion.
However, this encouraging piece of news is overshadowed by external factors, which includes a continuously gaining US dollar that is fuelled by promising economic data for the second quarter of 2014 in the United States (US), and the slowing inflation within the Eurozone.
Such indicators of recovery is pushing investors to return to the lower-paying but less-risky markets. As a result, the US dollar is back in demand, strengthening its position against other major global currencies.
On the other hand, the volatile situation in Ukraine and the possible stimulus roll-out by the European Central Bank (ECB) continues to pose risks for investors looking to investing in Europe. "The loosening of ECB's monetary policy may cause the Euro to weaken further, allowing the US dollar to continue gaining," said Masashi Murata, an analyst for Brown Brothers Harriman in Tokyo.
Market players are expecting the ECB to go ahead with its stimulus plans. According to Murata, the ECB is not in a position to postpone the roll-out of the stimulus, especially given recent releases of economic data that seems to suggest that Germany's economic growth is slowing down.
As per 12.30 p.m. Jakarta time, one euro buys US$ 1.31, while one British pound buys US$ 1.66. In Asia, the Korean won inched lower to 1.013,94 per US dollar. Similarly, the Malaysian ringgit and the Thai baht weakened to trade at US$ 3.16 and 31.98 per US dollar, respectively.
PDAT | M. AZHAR