Rupiah weakens to 13,475 to the dollar

JAKARTA. The rupiah exchange rate traded in Jakarta on Wednesday morning weakened by 10 points to Rp 13,475 per US dollar, from Rp 13,465.

NH Korindo Securities Indonesia head of research Reza Priyambada said in Jakarta on Wednesday that the US currency had strengthened again after a US economic data release showed better progress than what the market had expected.

“As a result, the dollar exchange rate strengthened in the global market, including in Indonesia,” he said as quoted by Antara.

The US Trade Department records showed that the value of US manufactured goods being ordered increased by US$8.7 billion, or 1.8 percent, to $478.5 billion in June, slightly above the market’s expectation.

On the other side, Reza said, market players had tended to be pessimistic about national economic growth for the second quarter of 2015.

The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) is scheduled to release Indonesia’s gross domestic product (GDP) data on Wednesday. Finance market players have predicted that the data will still show an economic slowdown in the second period of this year.

“It seems our chances of an improved rupiah exchange rate will be small if GDP data results released by BPS show that Indonesia’s economy is slowing down. This situation will lead market players to see alternative currencies which are safer so that they can maintain their asset values,” said Reza.

Samuel Sekuritas economist Rangga Cipta said the release of GDP data for the second quarter of 2015, which was expected to be around 4.6 percent, lower than in the previous quarter, would possibly lead to negative sentiment around the rupiah.

On the other side, he said, a decline in Indonesia’s consumer confidence index in July could also lead to negative sentiment because such conditions would reduce market optimism toward the national economy in the future.

Indonesia’s consumer confidence index was 109.9 in July, or down by 1.4 points from the previous month.