Rupiah Closes in Red at Friday Closing Session

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The rupiah interbank exchange rate in Jakarta on Friday slipped by 24 points to end trading at Rp12,892 per United States (US) dollar, down from its previous position at Rp12,868 per US dollar. 

"The US dollar is appreciating against the rupiah after initially having depreciated in the morning. The greenback is boosted by the statement released by St. Louis' branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of America relating to the possibility of its fund rate hike between June-September in 2015," said the head of research of Monex Investindo Futures, Ariston Tjendra, in Jakarta on Friday. 

According to Ariston, the Fed's official statement is one of the driving factors of the greenback's appreciation against the majority of Asian currencies, including the rupiah. 

Furthermore, continued Ariston, US durable goods orders and its consumer price index, which are in good shape, are likely to further boost the greenback in the future.

That said, the sentiments from the US have yet to cause the rupiah to depreciate further, especially since Indonesia's economic fundamentals are still considered as good enough to prevent it from slipping further. 

An analyst for Platon Niaga Berjangka, Lukman Leong, added that expectations on Indonesia's economic performance figures and its inflation figures for January 2015, which are due to be released by the Central Statistics Agency (BPS), remain positive for the time being. 

"Indonesia is expected to post yet another trade surplus, in light of low global oil prices, and inflation is also predicted to remain low," said Lukman. 

ANTARA