Rupiah Slightly Weakened To Rp13,694 Per US Dollar

Rupiah illustration. (Photo: Bank Indonesia)

JAKARTA - Rupiah closed lower at the close of trading on Tuesday, February 18th. The rupiah weakened slightly by 0.25 percent to the level of Rp13,694 per US dollar.

Head of Research at Monex Investindo Futures, Ariston Tjendra, said there was concern about an economic slowdown due to the corona virus pressing the prices of risky assets, including the rupiah.

"Asian stock indexes such as the Nikkei and Hangseng closed lower and this afternoon European stock indexes such as the German DAX also opened lower because of this sentiment," explained Ariston to VOI.

Rupiah weakened along with the majority of other Asian currencies. The Korean won led the weakening of Asian currencies in front of the US dollar, weakening 0.46 percent, followed by the Chinese yuan which weakened 0.36 percent, the Indian rupee weakened 0.35 percent, the Taiwan dollar weakened 0.28 percent.

The Malaysian ringgit weakened 0.26 percent, the Singapore dollar weakened 0.25 percent, the Philippine peso weakened 0.16 percent, the Thai baht weakened 0.16 percent, and the Hong Kong dollar weakened 0.01 percent against the US dollar.

As of this afternoon, only the Japanese yen has strengthened against the US dollar, which has strengthened 0.16 percent.