Tuesday Morning Rupiah Strengthened To Rp14,805 Per US Dollar

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on the spot market strengthened on trading Tuesday, May 19 morning. The rupiah strengthened 0.30 percent or 45 points to the level of Rp14,805 per United States dollar (US).

Head of Research at Monex Investindo Futures, Ariston Tjendra, said that the rupiah, which is a risk asset, was able to strengthen again against the US dollar today following positive sentiment in global financial markets that positively welcomed the progress report on the discovery of the COVID-19 vaccine by US biotechnology company Moderna last night.

"The discovery of a vaccine can stop the spread of the epidemic and the economy can resume normally," Ariston told VOI.

Today, he continued, the market will also pay attention to the results of the BI RDG. The Central Bank of Tanah AIr is expected to maintain its interest rate at 4.5 percent following the Fed and other central banks.

"BI may use other tools to provide a stimulus. BI's optimistic attitude will help strengthen the rupiah," he said.

He predicts that today's rupiah will be in the range of IDR 14,750-15,000 per US dollar.

The movement of the rupiah this morning is in line with the majority of currencies in the region. As of 09:00 WIB, the South Korean won was the biggest strengthening currency in Asia after rising 0.70 percent against the US dollar.

Following in the next position was the Malaysian ringgit which rose 0.52 percent. Furthermore, the Philippine peso rose 0.21 percent.

Next there is the Thai baht which has appreciated 0.20 percent. Quarter three coins, the Taiwan dollar and the Chinese yuan were in the green zone after edging up 0.08 percent and 0.06 percent, respectively. The Hong Kong dollar also looks to strengthen this morning after having hoisted 0.003 percent.

Meanwhile, the Japanese yen became the currency with the deepest weakness after falling 0.07 percent. The Singapore dollar was also in the red zone after weakening 0.01 percent.