Weekend Rupiah Report Cards: Weakest In Asia Pacific And Farther Than Rp.13,000

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on the spot market was closed lower on Friday trading, July 17. The rupiah closed down, slipping 78 points or weakening 0.53 percent to the level of Rp14,703 per US dollar.

Head of Research at Monex Investindo Futures, Ariston Tjendra, said concerns about the worsening US-China relationship and the problem of increasing COVID-19 transmission were still negative sentiments for the rupiah.

"And perhaps the weakening of the rupiah was also driven by cuts in BI's benchmark interest rate which lowered yields in Indonesia," said Ariston to VOI.

This afternoon, the majority of currencies in the Asia Pacific region strengthened against the US dollar. The Philippine peso is the currency in Asia with the biggest gain against the US dollar, namely 0.22 percent.

Followed by the Indian rupee and Japanese yen, which each gained 0.17 percent and 0.14 percent.

The Singapore dollar edged up 0.07 percent. The South Korean won and Malaysian ringgit gained 0.02 percent and 0.01 percent respectively against the US dollar.

The rupiah was the currency with the deepest weakness against the US dollar, followed by the Chinese yuan which weakened 0.15 percent.

The Taiwan dollar weakened 0.91 percent. The Hong Kong dollar and the Thai baht both fell 0.003 percent against the US dollar.