Indonesian Rupiah Exchange Rate Update: Appreciating on Economic Data
At the end of Friday’s trading day (02/05), the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate appreciated 0.32 percent to IDR 11,525 per US dollar based on the Bloomberg Dollar Index. The rupiah performed better than most of its regional emerging peers as inflation and trade data, which were released today by Statistics Indonesia, provided positive market sentiments. Indonesian inflation eased to 7.25 percent (year-on-year) in April 2014, from 7.32 percent a month earlier. Meanwhile, the country posted a trade surplus of USD $673 million in March 2014.
Today, Bloomberg reported that official data show that “global funds pumped 3.39 trillion rupiah (USD $294 million) into local-currency sovereign notes in the first two days of this week, taking holdings to a record IDR 376.28 trillion. These inflows occurred as previous forecasts for April inflation and the March trade balance were optimistic.
Furthermore, the US Federal Reserve announced on Wednesday 30 April 2014 that the institution will maintain a benchmark rate close to zero for a “considerable time” after the bond-buying program (quantitative easing) ends. It further said that monthly bond purchases have been cut to USD $45 billion, its fourth consecutive USD $10 billion cut. It is expected that the Fed will continue to curb its bond-buying program gradually. This context, particularly the low interest rates in the US and Europe, is considered ‘good’ for emerging market currencies, including the Indonesian rupiah.
Bank Indonesia's benchmark rupiah rate (Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate, abbreviated JISDOR) depreciated 0.04 percent to IDR 11,537 against the US dollar on Friday (02/05).
| Source: Bank IndonesiaBahas
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