Having Opened Up, The Rupiah Immediately Weakened Friday Morning To Approximately Rp14,700 Per US Dollar

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on the spot market was opened stronger on Friday, July 17 trading. The rupiah opened up 40 points to a level of Rp14,585 per United States dollar (US).

Even though it opened higher, VOI's monitoring at 10:20 am, the rupiah slid down and weakened 45 points or 0.31 percent to a level of Rp14,670 per US dollar.

Head of Research at Monex Investindo Futures, Ariston Tjendra, said that sentiment on the financial market this morning was still generally negative. Pressure was on risky assets, such as some Asian stock indices and some regional exchange rates, which continued to weaken against the US dollar.

"Concerns remain on the financial market. The worsening US-China relationship and the continued increase in the spread of the COVID-19 virus are feared to hamper the ongoing economic recovery," Ariston told VOI.

Economic data released recently such as China's GDP data for the second quarter of 2020 and US retail sales data in June indicate the economy is starting to grow.

"This sentiment could push the rupiah down today even though BI has loosened its monetary policy again to help Indonesia's economic recovery," he said.

According to him, the rupiah today has the potential to weaken to Rp14,750 with support at Rp14,500 per US dollar.

This morning, currencies in the Asia Pacific region weakened the majority against the US dollar, led by the rupiah, and was followed by the Chinese yuan which depreciated 0.17 percent.

Followed by the Indian rupee and Malaysian ringgit which fell 0.06 percent and 0.05 percent. The Thai baht and South Korean won weakened 0.03 percent and 0.02 percent, respectively.

Meanwhile, the currency that strengthened against the US dollar was led by the Singapore dollar which appreciated 0.04 percent. Followed by the Philippine peso, Taiwan dollar, and Japanese yen which both edged up 0.01 percent.