Rupiah depreciates to 11,968 per dollar at close

JAKARTA. The rupiah interbank trade rate depreciated by 15 basis points to Rp 11,968 per US dollar in Thursday's closing session.

"The improvement of the US dollar in the market put pressure on the rupiah in the final trade, hence weakening the domestic currency," Monex Investindo Futures analyst Zulfirman Basir said as quoted by Antara news agency.

He said that the greenback was continuing its domination in the global market after the publication of data indicating rising sales of landed house in the US.

Such data proved that the US’ economic recovery was expected to continue and would encourage the Federal Reserve to immediately increase its rate.

"Whenever market players are expecting the Fed rate to immediately increase, the rupiah will weaken," he said.

However, he added that market expectations on Chinese Central Bank's plan to loosen its monetary policy, which is aimed at maintaining China’s economy, would help to prevent the rupiah from falling significantly.

"The economic outlook of Indonesia's main trading partner will give a positive sentiment to the rupiah," he continued.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia's mid-rate data showed that the domestic currency was traded at Rp 11,947 per US dollar by 4 p.m. on Thursday, up from the previous Rp 11,976 per US dollar.