Rupiah Continues to Climb on Friday Morning

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The rupiah continues its appreciation against the US dollar on Friday morning, climbing by 94 points to trade at Rp12,468 per United States (US) dollar, up from its previous closing position at Rp12,562 per US dollar. 

The head of research at Woori Korindo Securities, Reza Priyambada, said in Jakarta on Friday that the rupiah is appreciating against the US dollar as Bank Indonesia (BI) continued to intervene in the money market, opening up the possibility for a further uptrend.

"BI's stance is boosting the market's confidence, and the rupiah is expected to hover between Rp11,900-Rp12,300 per US dollar," said Reza.

Furthermore, continued Reza, the lack of certainty surrounding the Federal Reserve Bank of America's (The Feds) plan to raise its core interest rate is giving the rupiah a positive boost that allows it to sustain an uptrend.

An analyst for Bank Himpunan Saudara, Rully Nova, added that emerging markets' currencies were on a rebound as investors began to disregard the Fed's sentiments as a point of reference. "This may drive investors to return into the Indonesian market, after initially having shifted their investments from riskier, emerging markets, due to rumors of possible higher returns in the US," said Rully.

Rully added that, domestically, investors were gaining more confidence over the future prospect of Indonesia's economic growth in light of the government's commitment to develop its infrastructures further in 2015.

ANTARA