Rupiah Opened Weekend Weakened 10 Points To Rp14,725 Per US Dollar

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on the spot market opened slightly lower on Friday, May 29 trading. The rupiah opened lower by 0.07 percent or 10 points to a level of Rp14,725 per US dollar (US).

Head of Research at Monex Investindo Futures, Ariston Tjendra, said that this morning, it seems that the negative sentiment of increasing tensions between the US and China is starting to strengthen, thus pushing down the prices of risky assets.

"But on the other hand, the increasing tensions between the US and China seem to have contributed to the weakening of the US dollar exchange rate against other exchange rates because the deteriorating US-China relations could push the US economy down," Ariston told VOI.

According to him, the rupiah exchange rate could also be depressed against the US dollar following this negative sentiment. However, perhaps the weakening was not too deep because the US dollar actually also got negative sentiment from the tensions between the US and China.

"The potential for rupiah movement today is in the range of Rp. 14,650-14,780 per US dollar.

This morning, currencies in the Asian region were mixed against the US dollar. The rupiah weakened along with the Chinese yuan (0.08 percent) and the Indian rupee (0.06 percent).

Meanwhile, the currency that strengthened against the US dollar was led by the Philippine peso which strengthened 0.22 percent, followed by the Singapore dollar which strengthened 0.19 percent.

Then the South Korean won appreciated 0.17 percent. Thai baht was able to strengthen 0.15 percent. Meanwhile the Taiwan dollar and Malaysian ringgit gained 0.12 percent and 0.10 percent respectively against the US dollar.