Rupiah Falls 19 Points to Rp13,769 against US Dollar

The hawkish statement has prompted investors to buy US dollars.

Jakarta, MINA – The Indonesian rupiah fell 19 points to close at Rp13,769 per dollar in the Jakarta inter-bank spot market, Thursday evening, compared with the previous closing of Rp13,750 per US dollar,Antara News reported.

“Investors are still cautious amid the mounting fear of a Russia-US war in Syria. Under these circumstances, they put their fund in safe haven currencies, such as the US dollar,” Monex Investindo Futures chief researcher Ariston Tjendra said here, Thursday.

On the other hand, they also took advantage of the momentum to accumulate US dollars after the summary of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) was more hawkish toward its benchmark interest rate, he stated.

“The hawkish statement has prompted investors to buy US dollars,” he noted.

In addition to this, the Fed officials have also agreed to revise upward the gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent for 2018, he remarked.

Economist Lan a Soelistianingsih of Samuel Aset Manajemen stressed the published FOMC summary confirmed to the strong economic outlook in US and the likelihood of achieving the inflation target in the next few months.

“The projection made almost all top officials of the Fed agree to a tight monetary policy implemented in stages. However, only a few of them believe the interest rate hike will be slightly steeper, meaning the Fed will be more aggressive in raising the interest rate,” he maintained. (T/RS5/RS1)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)