Approaching the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting - scheduled for 12-13 December 2017 - the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate remained stable on Monday (11/12). By 15:00 pm local Jakarta time, the rupiah had strengthened 0.01 percent to IDR 13,548 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index). However, several analysts warn that the rupiah is likely to depreciate if the US Federal Reserve will indeed raise its benchmark interest rate.

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As we are in the middle of the fourth quarter of 2017, we detect rising pressures on the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate amid broad US dollar strength. However, the decision of Indonesia's central bank to leave its interest rate regime unchanged at the November meeting managed to give some support to the rupiah (as well as Indonesia's improving balance of payments, current account deficit, and capital and financial account).

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Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index touched a new all-time record high on Wednesday (25/10). More importantly, the benchmark index passed beyond the psychological boundary of 6,000 points and closed 1.23 percent higher at 6,025.43 points. This great performance was driven by Indonesia's energy and financial stocks.

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Bank Indonesia held its key rate at 4.25 percent at the October 2017 policy meeting. This decision was in line with expectations. In fact, previously, Bank Indonesia officials had already indicated that they would pause their eagerness to ease monetary policy. Since January 2016, the central bank of Indonesia had already cut the benchmark interest rate eight times from 7.25 percent to 4.25 percent in an effort to boost economic growth.

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The Indonesian rupiah appreciated slightly - by 0.09 percent - to IDR 13,464 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index) on Thursday (05/10), bucking the trend in Asia where most emerging market currencies weakened amid US dollar strength as US economic data showed that the US service sector grew at its fastest pace in 12 years in September 2017.

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The Indonesian rupiah is continuing to depreciate on Monday (02/10). By 15:00 pm local Jakarta time the currency had weakened 0.71 percent to IDR 13,568 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index). Not only the rupiah, but all (emerging market) currencies are sliding in Asia on renewed US dollar strength.

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Indonesian shares and the rupiah strengthened considerably on the last trading day of the week. On Friday (29/09) Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index surged 1.02 percent to 5,900.85 points, outperforming all other national benchmark indices in the Asia-Pacific region. Meanwhile, the Indonesian rupiah appreciated 0.32 percent to IDR 13,472 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index).

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The US dollar is advancing on Thursday (28/09) amid strong US dollar demand on the back of US President Donald Trump's tax reform program announcement and looming further monetary tightening by the Federal Reserve before the year-end. Rising US treasury yields naturally cause US dollar strength, hence leading to weakening emerging market currencies, with especially the Indonesian rupiah being affected significantly today.

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Investors are again in search of safe haven assets on Wednesday (27/09), hence most emerging market currencies, including Indonesia's rupiah exchange rate, are weakening against the US dollar. Based on the Bloomberg Dollar Index, the rupiah had depreciated 0.28 percent to IDR 13,412 per US dollar by 14:45 am local Jakarta time. Yesterday, the rupiah had already weakened 0.37 percent against the greenback.

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Indonesia's central bank (Bank Indonesia) said the nation's foreign exchange reserves rose to USD $128.8 billion at the end of August 2017, higher than the USD $127.8 billion one month earlier. This growth was primarily attributed to foreign exchange receipts from tax revenues and government oil & gas export proceeds, as well as auctions of Bank Indonesia's foreign exchange bills.

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For most of this year, the financial media has held a generally positive tone. There have been some exceptions in cases like the Eurozone which is still mired in a deeply divided sovereign debt crisis. But for most of the world, 2015 has been a positive period in terms of general growth in their broad trends. So it might be easy for macro investors to assume that most markets are currently establishing themselves in the bullish direction.

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The Indonesian rupiah touched a 17-year low as the currency continued to depreciate amid persistent bullish US dollar momentum. The rupiah weakened to IDR 13,539 per US dollar according to the Bloomberg Dollar Index on Friday (31/07). The US Commerce Department announced on Thursday (30/07) that US gross domestic product (GDP) expanded at 2.3 percent (year-on-year) in the second quarter of 2015, giving rise to heightened expectation that the US Federal Reserve will raise its key interest rate soon.

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Companies active in the pharmaceutical industry of Indonesia need to find strategies to overcome sharp rupiah depreciation. Indonesia’s pharmaceutical industry is still - to a large extent - dependent on the import of raw materials, hence a weakening rupiah raises the costs of imports thus eroding profit margins. Since May 2013, when the US Federal Reserve started to hint at monetary tightening, the US dollar has experienced bullish momentum. Between the May 2013 and July 2015, the rupiah depreciated around 37 percent against the US dollar.

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For most of this year, the Indonesian rupiah has met selling pressure against the US Dollar. Year-to-date price activity in the USD/IDR shows a rise from below IDR 12,250 to new highs above IDR 13,330 per US dollar. For Indonesian export companies, this is great news as it means that their products will be cheaper for foreign consumers to buy. For the domestic economy, this creates a different set of implications as it also makes it less likely that foreign investors will be looking to buy into Indonesian assets.

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Since late 2011 Indonesia has been plagued by a structural current account deficit (CAD) that has worried both policymakers and (foreign) investors. Despite Indonesian authorities having implemented policy reforms and economic adjustments in recent years, the country’s CAD remains little-changed in 2015. The World Bank and Bank Indonesia both expect the CAD to persist at slightly below 3 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2015, alarmingly close to the boundary that separates a sustainable from an unsustainable deficit.

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When we look at the long-term activity in the Indonesian rupiah, we have seen a surprising level of strength when viewing the activity seen in recent months. This has been surprising for a few different reasons, as this is not something that can be said for markets in emerging Asia as a whole. This essentially suggests that economic activity in the region has been somewhat disjointed and that trends visible in one country cannot necessarily be expected in another. But when we look at chart activity in the rupiah itself, we can see that the broader trends have started to change over the last two months.

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Both Indonesian stocks and the rupiah continued to slide on Thursday (04/06) and seem to be caught in a vicious downward spiral brought about by both domestic and international factors. Indonesia’s benchmark stock index (Jakarta Composite Index) fell 0.68 percent to close at a five-week low of 5,095.82 points, while the rupiah depreciated 0.39 percent to IDR 13,281 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index), a level last seen in the late 1990s when the country was plagued by the Asian Financial Crisis.

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On the first trading day of the new week, both Indonesian stocks and the rupiah moved more-or-less sideways. Generally, indices in Southeast Asia were mixed as positive external sentiments were offset by local negative sentiments. In the case of Indonesia, negative local sentiments stemmed from the higher-than-estimated inflation figure in May and continued contraction of the manufacturing industry. Positive market sentiments stemmed from the USA where GDP growth was revised to minus 0.7 percent in Q1-2015.

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Most stock markets and currencies in Southeast Asia weakened on Friday (29/05), including Indonesia’s benchmark Jakarta Composite Index and the rupiah. The Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.40 percent to 5,216.38 points, while the rupiah depreciated 0.01 percent to IDR 13,224 per US dollar according to the Bloomberg Dollar Index. Over the past week, Indonesian stocks and the rupiah weakened primarily due to the Greek debt crisis, looming higher US interest rates and the lack of positive domestic factors.

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In line with other Asian indices, Indonesian stocks rose on Tuesday (26/05). The benchmark Jakarta Composite Index rose 0.62 percent to 5,320.90 points. Positive sentiments did not originate from the USA as US stock markets were closed for a holiday yesterday but primarily stemmed from China where the economic planning agency announced to implement several new policies in a bid to boost the sluggish economy. The rupiah, however, depreciated 0.25 percent to IDR 13,220 per US dollar based on the Bloomberg Dollar Index.

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