Rupiah increases slightly to 13,031 per dollar

JAKARTA. The rupiah interbank trade rate in Wednesday's first trading session increased by five basis points to Rp 13,031 per US dollar from Rp 13,036 per dollar in the previous trade.

Samuel Sekuritas economist Rangga Cipta said that the rupiah had the potential to strengthen more against the dollar in line with the widening trade deficit in the US.

"This situation can give reasons for the dollar to continue its downward trend," Rangga said as quoted by Antara news agency, adding that the US trade deficit rose to US$51.4 billion in March from $35.9 billion in February.

The head of Monex Investindo Futures' research unit, Ariston Tjendra, said that investors were waiting for the announcement of private sector employment data by Automatic Data Processing Inc. The data is important for predicting US non-farm payroll (NFP) figures to be released at the weekend.

"The NFP data greatly affects world currencies as it depicts information on payrolls in the US non-farm sector and can also give clues as to when the Fed (US Federal Reserve) will raise its interest rates," he said, adding that better data would help the dollar strengthen against other world currencies, including the rupiah. (hhr)