By Noon, The Rupiah Was At The Level Of Rp.15,048 Per US Dollar, Almost Entering The Basis Of The Standings In Asia

Illustration. (Photo: Bank Indonesia)

JAKARTA - The rupiah is increasingly showing its powerlessness in front of the United States dollar (US). Since yesterday, the rupiah was at the level of around Rp. 15,000 after opening. Even what happened today, Tuesday, March 17 before noon.

According to VOI, the rupiah exchange rate is powerless in the reference rate of the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (Jisdor). The rupiah is also lackluster in the spot market.

This Tuesday, at the middle rate of BI or Jisdor, the rupiah was at Rp 15,083 per US dollar. Rupiah weakened 1.79 percent significantly compared to yesterday's position. This weakening is the rupiah's weakest point since November 2018.

Meanwhile on the spot market, the rupiah was powerless. At 11:08 am, the rupiah had weakened 0.77 percent to a level of Rp15,048 per US dollar.

The suffering of the rupiah is the opposite of what is experienced by the currencies of neighboring countries. A number of currencies in the Southeast Asian region have been able to strengthen, for example the Singapore dollar, Thai baht and the Philippine peso.

However, the majority of currencies in the Asian region are still weakening against the US dollar. In fact, the rupiah is almost at the bottom of the weakening standings. Because the weakening of the rupiah only lost to the Korean won which weakened by 1.28 percent.

Monex Investindo Futures Head Researcher Ariston Tjendra in Jakarta said, it seems that sentiment has not improved yet where risk assets are still under pressure, including the rupiah.

"Last night Wall Street fell by more than 12 percent. Market concerns about the spread of the coronavirus or COVID-19 outbreak are still high," said Ariston.

However, he continued, this morning the Nikkei index had a positive move and the S&P Futures too.

"Perhaps the news of stimulus preparations from the US government helped lift sentiment in some market participants," said Ariston.

The US government is still negotiating with the Senate to roll out a bigger stimulus package. The New Zealand government also released a stimulus of 12.1 billion New Zealand dollars (NZD) this morning. The Australian central bank is also preparing further monetary stimulus.

"The rupiah still has the potential to be depressed due to concerns over the spread of corona, but US stimulus sentiment could help prevent the rupiah from weakening," said Ariston.