Thursday Opened Rupiah Weakened 11 Points To Rp14,294 Per US Dollar

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on the spot market was opened lower on Thursday, July 2 trading. The rupiah opened 11 points lower to a level of Rp14,294 per US dollar (US).

Monex Investindo Futures Head Researcher, Ariston Tjendra said, although this morning it opened weaker, he is optimistic that the rupiah will move stronger today.

The factor, he said, was that the release of US economic data, namely the labor data and manufacturing activity index data for June last night, gave positive sentiment to risk assets.

"Because the data shows economic recovery. That is in the midst of reopening economic activity even though the COVID-19 pandemic is still ongoing. The market is also getting good news from the progress of vaccine discovery by pharmaceutical company Pfizer," Ariston told VOI.

This morning, a number of risky assets in Asia, such as stock indices and exchange rates for emerging markets, seemed to strengthen. However, negative sentiment that is still overshadowing market movements can mask this positive sentiment.

"Apart from market concerns with the continuing increase in COVID-19 cases in the world and the second wave, the market is also getting new negative sentiment from the approval of the law on sanctions for US banks doing business with Chinese officials implementing the Hong Kong security law," he explained.

This means that the sanctions law has been approved by two opposing parties in the US. There are concerns that the sanctions law will spread to the trade affairs of the two countries, the US and China.

Ariston explained, the minutes of the Fed meeting released earlier this morning also gave an indication of economic conditions that were still under pressure for a long time due to COVID-19.

"The rupiah may slightly strengthen today after several days of pressure. Rupiah has the potential to move in the range of Rp. 14,150-14,330 per US dollar.

Currency Conditions in Asia

This morning, the majority of currencies in Asia strengthened against the US dollar. The gain was led by the Taiwan dollar, which has appreciated 0.24 percent.

Followed by the South Korean won which strengthened 0.20 percent. Then the Philippine peso, Chinese yuan and Thai baht both strengthened 0.06 percent.

The Malaysian ringgit and Singapore dollar both gained 0.01 percent.

Meanwhile, the weaker currency other than the rupiah was the Indian rupee, which weakened 0.09 percent against the US dollar.