Rupiah Commences Trading in the Red on Monday's Start
4 May 2015 14:30 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Rupiah's interbank exchange rate slipped by 55 points at the start of Monday's trading session, to commence trading at Rp13,015 per US Dollar.
"The Rupiah is experiencing quite a high degree of volatility, especially since investors are waiting for the government to release April's official inflation figures - an increase of which would definitely add negative pressure on the Rupiah," said an economist for Samuel Sekuritas, Rangga Cipta, on Monday in Jakarta.
Rangga added that in addition to April's inflation figures, market players are also waiting for other economic performance indicators, which includes Indonesia's Gross Domestic Products (GDP) for the first quarter (Q1) of 2015 - a slowdown in which would also add negative pressure on the Rupiah.
Furthermore, added Rangga, the US Dollar is appreciating at a faster rate against the majority of the world's currency - including the Rupiah.
An analyst for Platon Niaga Berjangka, Lukman Leong, said that external factors are also putting a damper on the Rupiah's growth - especially since the Federal Reserve Bank of America has yet to firmly decide on its plan to increase its fund rate.
That said, added Lukman, the Rupiah's downtrend is not expected to last for long, as inflation figures for April is expected to meet the market's demands, and Indonesia is also skated to post yet another trade surplus for the same period.
Lukman also added that the Rupiah is being helped by Bank Indonesia's decision to actively intervene in the domestic foreign exchange market to ensure that the Rupiah does not continue to plunge against the US Dollar.
ANTARA | ZUBI M | MARYATI | RAMA ARIADI