Once Opened Strongly, The Rupiah Ambles Even 91 Points To Rp14,468 Per US Dollar

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on the spot market opened stronger this weekend. The rupiah opened on Friday, July 3, strengthening 40 points to a level of Rp14,338 per US dollar (US).

However, according to VOI's monitoring at 09:10, the rupiah seemed to have weakened and subsided considerably, namely 91 points or 0.63 percent to the level of Rp14,468 per US dollar.

Head of Research at Monex Investindo Futures, Ariston Tjendra, said negative sentiment was still overshadowing the movement of risky assets, including the rupiah. The market is worried about the increasing spread of COVID-19.

"A number of economic activities have been restricted or closed again in several countries where the transmission of COVID-19 has increased, such as in the US, China, Germany, South Korea, and others," explained Ariston to VOI.

In Indonesia, said Ariston, COVID-19 cases are still increasing at about the same rate. The tense relationship between the US and China with the passing of the law on sanctions against Chinese officials who approved the Hong Kong security law by the US Congress also added to negative sentiment.

"The rupiah is still likely to weaken today with this negative sentiment. Today's rupiah has the opportunity to move in the range of Rp14,250-14,430 per US dollar," he said.

On the other hand, continued Ariston, the improvement in the US Non-Farm Payroll employment data last night which gave positive sentiment to risk assets, could prevent the rupiah from weakening too deeply.

Majority of Currency in Asia Weakened

The weakening of the rupiah is in line with currencies in the Asian region, which are mostly in the red zone. This morning, the Thai baht became the currency with the deepest weakness in Asia after dropping 0.19 percent against the US dollar.

Next was the South Korean won, which fell 0.07 percent. Furthermore, the Singapore dollar and Japanese yen were both seen down 0.04 percent.

Weakening also occurred in the Malaysian ringgit which corrected 0.02 percent. The Chinese yuan is also in the red zone after depreciating 0.003 percent and the Hong Kong dollar is stable even though it tends to weaken very slightly.

Meanwhile, the Taiwan dollar was the region's biggest gainer after gaining 0.21 percent. His position was accompanied only by the Philippine peso which also rose 0.20 percent against the US dollar.