This weekend, it looks like the rupiah will weaken due to the trend of strengthening of the US dollarJakarta (ANTARA) - The rupiah exchange rate transacted between banks here on Friday has the potential to be in correction mode in line with positive United States (US) economic data.
The rupiah opened slightly stronger by one point, or 0.01 percent, to a position of Rp14,382 per US dollar as compared to Rp14,383 per US dollar at the closing of previous trade.
"This weekend, it looks like the rupiah will weaken due to the trend of strengthening of the US dollar. The US dollar index is still slightly below 93," Bank Mandiri money market analyst Rully Arya stated when contacted here on Friday.
Arya attributed the strengthening chiefly to the quite positive US economic data and sustained optimism despite the surge in COVID-19 delta variant cases.
It is since vaccination in the US is viewed as being good, and the pandemic is still relatively under control, according to Arya.
"Looking at the new data, I think the Fed had anticipated it. Sooner or later, the Fed will definitely conduct tapering," Arya remarked.
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Citing official data, Arya said the US Department of Labor had reported earlier that jobless claims declined slightly to 375 thousand last week, lower than the total consensus of 387 thousand.
Meanwhile, Arya noted that the US consumer price inflation rose 5.4 percent (yoy) in July or in line with market expectations.
Arya noted that the daily COVID-19 case count in the country had continued to decline as on Thursday, August 12, reaching 24,709. Thus, the number of positive
confirmed cases had totaled 3.77 million.
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However, he pointed to the number of deaths due to COVID-19 still being relatively high, as the figure increased by 1,466 cases, thereby bringing the total to 113,644 cases. Meanwhile, 3.25 million people made a recovery.
Arya projected the rupiah today to hover in the range of Rp14,420 per US dollar to Rp14,375 per US dollar.
On Thursday, August 12, the rupiah closed stagnant as compared to the previous close of Rp14,383 per US dollar.
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Translator: Citro A, Kenzu T
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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