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Rupiah strengthens to 12,976 per dollar
The rupiah exchange rate traded among banks in Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon strengthened by 97 points to Rp 12,976 per US dollar from Rp 13,073
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he rupiah exchange rate traded among banks in Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon strengthened by 97 points to Rp 12,976 per US dollar from Rp 13,073.
'March's inflation data, which was lower than what was expected by financial market players, became a supporting factor in the appreciation of the rupiah against the dollar,' Bank Mandiri financial market analyst Rully Arya Wisnubroto said as quoted by Antara news agency in Jakarta on Wednesday.
The Central Statistics Agency (BPS) announced that this year's March inflation stood at 0.17 percent after it recorded deflation in January and February.
Rully added, however, that the rupiah's appreciation was still short term in nature concerning US employment data, which would be released later this week. If the data showed further improvements, the US currency would potentially appreciate again.
'This situation can bring negative impacts to the rupiah as US data is one indicator of the US Federal Reserve [Fed] increasing its interest rate,' he said.
Meanwhile, Monex Investindo Futures head of research Ariston Tjendra said external sentiments related to China's data on the manufacturing sector, which increased in March, had muffled demands for the US dollar as a 'safe haven' asset.
He explained that currently, market players were in 'wait and see' mode, waiting for the release of automatic data processing (ADP) data that was usually used as a reference for the compiling of employment data that the US government would announce later this week.
'For the time being, the appreciation of the dollar against the world's prime currencies will be halted,' said Ariston.
The Bank Indonesia median rate recorded that the rupiah had strengthened to Rp 13,043 per dollar on Wednesday from Rp 13,084 on Tuesday. (ebf)(+++)
