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CURRENCY - JAKARTA. The exchange rate of the rupiah slightly weakened against the United States dollar (US) in the last trading of January 2024. On Wednesday (31/1), the spot rupiah rate weakened slightly by 0.02% to Rp 15,783 per US dollar from yesterday's position at Rp 15,780 per US dollar.
Throughout January 2024, the spot rupiah rate weakened by 2.49% from the position of Rp 15,399 per US dollar at the end of December 2023. The rupiah recorded the deepest monthly depreciation since October 2023.
The movement of the rupiah currency is weighed down by concerns ahead of the general election next month. From abroad, market players are also waiting for signals on the direction of the US Federal Reserve's monetary policy.
"The Fed has various reasons not to trigger interest rate cut pressure in March," said Philip Wee, senior currency strategist at DBS in a note quoted by Bloomberg.
Pressure on the rupiah currency forced Bank Indonesia (BI) to intervene in the domestic market this month. BI continues to emphasize that monetary policy will remain focused on ensuring rupiah and inflation stability.
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"BI is also looking at opportunities in the second semester, whether there is room to lower interest rates," said BI Governor Perry Warjiyo as quoted by Bloomberg.
Most Asian currencies today also weakened against the US dollar. Only the Philippine peso and the Indian rupee were recorded to strengthen by 0.21% and 0.08% respectively against the greenback.
Meanwhile, during the month of January, most Asian currencies were also under pressure. The deepest depreciation was seen in the Japanese yen, which weakened by 4.54% against the US dollar.
The rupiah's depreciation of 2.49% throughout January is still better than the yen, Korean won (-3.26%), Thai baht (-3.1%), and Malaysian ringgit (-2.9%).
Meanwhile, the dollar index reflecting the exchange rate of the US dollar against the world's major currencies this afternoon strengthened to 103.62 from yesterday's position at 103.4%. Throughout January 2024, the dollar index strengthened by 2.26%.
