Rupiah Back Again To Rp15,000

Illustration. (Photo: Bank Indonesia)

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate weakened at the close of trading Monday, May 4. The rupiah returned to around IDR 15,000.

Today's rupiah closed down 1.46 percent or 218 points to a level of Rp15,100 per US dollar (US). Monex Investindo Futures Head Researcher Ariston Tjendra has predicted that the rupiah will weaken today.

The reason is, according to him, a series of negative sentiments is haunting the market today. The market is worried that easing lockdowns in several countries will lead to a second wave of COVID-19 cases.

In addition, the market is also worried about the tension between the US and China recently because US provocation will trigger another trade war between the two countries.

The market is also anticipating poor economic data in the US and other pandemic countries which will be released this week, such as labor data, service and manufacturing sector activity index data, trade balance, and others.

The release of the Central Statistics Agency (BPS) today also shows negative data, one of which is about the drastic decline in the number of tourists due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This afternoon, Asian currencies were weakening against the US dollar. The rupiah was the weakest today, followed by the Indian rupee (0.84 percent), the South Korean won (0.66 percent), the Taiwan dollar (0.32 percent), the Malaysian ringgit (0.30 percent), the Singapore dollar (0.07 percent).

Meanwhile, the Philippine peso and the Hong Kong dollar fell 0.01 percent against the US dollar.