TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The rupiah exchange rate against the United States (US) dollar opened lower in early trading on Monday, November 21. Citing data from Bloomberg at 09.04 WIB, the rupiah exchange rate opened lower by 7.5 points or fell 0.056 percent at Rp. 15,691 per US dollar. Meanwhile, the US dollar index continued to strengthen by 0.17 percent, growing by 0.185 points to 107.05.

The majority of other currencies in Asia were also observed weakening against the US dollar in this morning’s trade. Only the Japanese yen edged up 0.03 percent against the greenback.

The deepest weakness happened with the South Korean won which weakened by 0.97 percent, followed by the Malaysian ringgit, which fell by 0.75 percent against the US dollar. The Chinese yuan weakened by 0.68 percent and the Thai baht fell by 0.50 percent.

Chief Economist of The Indonesia Economic Intelligence (IEI) Sunarsip said that rupiah could strengthen by the end of the year, driven by rising interest rates and corporate actions with the potential for large fundraising in the capital market.

He said that Bank Indonesia's policy to raise the benchmark interest rate again at the meeting of the board of governors (RDG) on November 16-17 made Indonesia's real interest rate position better amid diminishing inflationary pressure.

Sunarsip also estimates that securities issuance activities in the capital market, through initial public offerings (IPOs) and rights issues, will continue until the end of the year.

BISNIS.COM

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