Bad Rupiah Report Card Wednesday: Ambled 138 Points, Weakening Alone In The Asia Pacific Region

Illustrated. (Irfan Meidianto / VOI)

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate on the spot market was closed lower in trading Wednesday, July 15. The rupiah weakened quite significantly, namely 138 points or 0.96 percent to a level of Rp. 14,588 per US dollar (US).

Monex Investindo Futures Head Researcher Ariston Tjendra said that the rupiah depreciation looked somewhat anomalous, because the exchange rate in the Asia Pacific region strengthened against the US dollar.

"Indonesia's trade balance data in June also showed improvement. Export value rose, trade balance surplus. Maybe the market is anticipating the outcome of the Bank Indonesia (BI) Board of Governors (RDG) meeting tomorrow where the opportunity to cut the benchmark interest rate is still open," Ariston told VOI.

This afternoon, the majority of currencies in the region did look to strengthen against the US dollar. The South Korean won became the biggest strengthening currency in Asia after gaining 0.43 percent.

Followed by the Singapore dollar which strengthened 0.25 percent and the Indian rupee which increased 0.22 percent against the US dollar.

Then there was the Japanese yen which rose 0.21 percent and the Malaysian ringgit which rose 0.18 percent. Followed by the Chinese yuan which appreciated 0.17 percent and the Philippine peso which rose 0.13 percent.

Meanwhile the Thai baht managed to gain 0.06 percent. The same thing happened to the Taiwan dollar which lifted 0.02 percent. Meanwhile, the Hong Kong dollar remained stable at the same level as the previous day.