Rupiah Trades at Rp12,164 per US Dollar at Wednesday's Close
26 November 2014 20:36 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The rupiah interbank exchange rate in Jakarta inched slightly lower by one point to trade at Rp12,164 per United States (US) dollar at the end of Wednesday's trading session.
"The rupiah is experiencing a slight downtrend as investors are acting cautiously ahead of the planned release of Indonesia's economic figures in early December," said an analyst for Bank Mandiri, Rully Arya Wisnubroto, in Jakarta on Wednesday, November 25, 2014.
Rully said that although the government's decision to cut fuel subsidies would undoubtedly cause inflation figures to rise, Bank Indonesia's swift decision to raise its core interest rates would keep the increase in check.
Rully also said that Indonesia's transactional deficit would decrease in December, although the decrease wouldn't be substantial for the time being.
The rupiah exchange rate is also being pressured by the recent economic releases relating to the US Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth, which indicated a growth of 3.9 percent throughout the third quarter of 2014. As such, the rupiah may slide even more as the US dollar appreciates in response to the positive figure.
"The US economy is faring much better compared to its developed counterparts in Europe, China and Japan," said Rully.
According to Rully, the rupiah's movement in the past couple of days has been relatively normal and stable, and that such pattern began to appear soon after the government announced the fuel subsidy cut.
"The decision will help improve Indonesia's economic fundamentals, which may assist in sustaining the value of the rupiah in the global market," said Rully, who predicted that the tupiah would hover between Rp12,135-12,185 per US dollar throughout the remainder of the week.
ANTARA