Ahead of the Weekend, the Rupiah is Projected to Weaken amid MSCI Sentiments and the Fed's Attitude

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on Friday, January 30, 2026 is expected to weaken against the US dollar.

To note, quoting Bloomberg, on Thursday, January 29, the spot rupiah exchange rate closed down 0.20 percent to Rp16,755 per US dollar.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (Jisdor) exchange rate of the Bank Indonesia (BI) closed down 0.37 percent to the price level of IDR16,786 per US dollar.

Doo Financial Futures analyst Lukman Leong said the rupiah is expected to weaken against the US dollar.

In addition, he added, the weakening of the rupiah against the US dollar along with sentiments in the domestic equity market which has not recovered after the MSCI announcement yesterday.

"The rupiah has the potential to weaken again against the US dollar by sentiments that have not yet recovered in the domestic equity market regarding the MSCI announcement yesterday," he told VOI, Friday, January 30.

Lukman estimates that the movement of the rupiah on Friday, January 30, 2026 will be in the range of Rp16,700-Rp16,800 per US dollar.

Meanwhile, money market observer Ibrahim Assuaibi, said the Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement showed policymakers decided to keep the benchmark rate at 3.50 percent-3.75 percent through a 10-2 vote.

"The Federal Reserve's monetary policy statement revealed that policymakers decided to keep interest rates unchanged at 3.50 percent-3.75 percent," he said in a statement, quoted Friday, January 30.

He added that the decision was made despite Fed Governor Stephen Miran and Christopher Waller, who are said to be one of President Donald Trump's preferred candidates to replace Jerome Powell, choosing to cut the interest rate by 25 basis points.

In his press conference, Fed Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated that monetary policy remained data-dependent with a meeting-by-meeting approach.

Regarding the labor market, Powell stated that market conditions had stabilized, while inflation was still at a relatively high level and also added that core inflation based on the PCE index was expected to approach 3 percent and prices were projected to peak around the middle of the year.

Ibrahim predicted that the rupiah would fluctuate but closed weaker on Friday, January 30, 2026 in the price range of IDR 16,750 - IDR 16,780 per US dollar.