Rupiah falls to 12,053 per dollar

JAKARTA. The rupiah interbank trade rate in Thursday’s closing session depreciated by 40 basis points to Rp12,053 per US dollar.

“The appreciation of the US dollar in the global market put pressure on the domestic currency in the final trading,” Monex Investindo Futures analyst Zulfirman Basir said, as quoted by Antara news agency.

Zulfirman said that the recently released US consumer data index, which was better than market players had previously predicted, had helped improve the greenback.

In addition, the market was still in a wait-and-see stance since President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo had not announced his Cabinet.

"Market players are hoping that the Jokowi-Kalla Cabinet will be able to conduct policy reforms and boost the country’s economy in the next five years,” he noted.

He said, however, that the rupiah was still positive since it was traded between Rp 12,000 per dollar and Rp 12,060 throughout Thursday.

Meanwhile, Bank Indonesia data showed that the domestic currency weakened to Rp 12,034 per dollar from Rp 12,026 per dollar in earlier trade. (nfo)