JAKARTA. The rupiah was unable to improve from 13,700 against the US dollar this morning, trading at 13,712 at 10 a.m., while the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) successfully rebounded from yesterday’s correction, settling near the psychological level of 4,500 at Tuesday’s opening.
The benchmark index rose 1.15 percent to 4,493.25 at initial trading, as all sectoral indexes gained. The basic industry index led with a 1.92 percent increase, followed by the manufacturing sector index that grew 1.19 percent.
At opening in regional markets, the MSCI Asia Pacific Index strengthened by 0.8 percent, New Zealand’s S&P/NZX-50 Index added 0.3 percent and South Korea’s Kospi climbed 1 percent.
An economist at Permata Bank, Josua Pardede, said Indonesia's surplus trade account in October failed to boost the rupiah, as it was merely driven by weaker imports – rather than stronger exports – demonstrating slower domestic demand.
"We’d better watch out for the [US] Fed’s on-going [discussions] related to its interest rate benchmark, as well as Bank Indonesia’s governor’s board meeting being held today," said Josua as quoted by kontan.co.id on Monday in Jakarta.
He suggested that the central bank maintain Indonesia’s interest rate benchmark, or BI rate, given the external risk of global markets dropping.
