'€œThe domestic sentiment was quite positive ahead of the release of Indonesia'€™s inflation and trade balance data, expected to be positive by financial market players in the country,'€ Bank Himpunan Saudara financial market analyst Rully Nova said as quoted by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Tuesday.

The analyst projected that the inflation rate would remain low and would not differ too much from February'€™s inflation rate. Rully expected that Indonesia'€™s trade, which was still on an improving trend, would continue.

'€œThis signals that Indonesia'€™s economic condition is quite stable so in the middle and long term, this will support the rupiah,'€ said Rully.

The analyst hoped that the rupiah would have the potential to continue its strengthening trend if Indonesia'€™s inflation and trade balance data was in line with market expectations, so that the rupiah could move again at a level below Rp 13,000 per dollar.

Rully further said that despite increases in subsidized fuel prices in March, the inflation rate would likely remain stable due to harvest seasons predicted to occur in a number of regions across Indonesia in April, balancing sentiments triggered by the fuel-price hike.

Throughout this year, Rully said the fluctuation of the rupiah against the dollar was also still relatively good in the Asian region following market expectations that the US Federal Reserve (Fed) did not plan to increase its fund rate in the near future.

'€œSpeculation that the Fed will delay the Fed fund rate increase in the middle of this year had led risky currency assets to remain attractive for investors.'€

On Tuesday, Bank Indonesia'€™s median rate recorded that the rupiah strengthened to Rp 13,084 per dollar, from Rp 13,086 on Monday. (ebf)(+++)

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