The rupiah exchange rate stood at 14,146 per United States dollar on Tuesday, a slight strengthening after it had been weakening over the five previous days, according to the Jakarta interbank spot dollar rate (JISDOR).

JISDOR shows that the currency was quoted at 14,149 per US dollar on Monday, 14,111 per US dollar on Friday, 14,062 per US dollar on Feb 28, Rp 14,004 per US dollar on Feb 27 and Rp 13,990 per US dollar on Feb 26.

However, according to the foreign exchange spot market, the rupiah was quoted at 14,144 per US dollar at 11:57 a.m. on Tuesday, 0.1 percent lower than its position on Monday evening.

Asia Trade Point Futures analyst Deddy Yusuf Siregar said market players still considered the US dollar to be a safe haven for their assets although there was optimism over the end of the trade war between China and the United States.

“Most of them are still waiting for the certainty in late March when President Donald Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping,” Deddy said as quoted by kontan.co.id on Tuesday, adding that the cut of China’s economic growth target to 6 percent also triggered further doubt among market players.

He said the US dollar was still in a strong position, supported by a statement made by Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell, who opened the possibility of introducing a hawkish policy and the dovish policies of several major central banks such as Bank of England and Bank of Japan.

On the other hand, the price decrease of several Indonesian commodities, including crude palm oil (CPO) was considered as a negative sentiment against the rupiah, Deddy said, adding that he had not seen any positive sentiment for the rupiah in the near future. (bbn)