Jakarta, The Indonesia Post – The rupiah exchange rate traded between banks in Jakarta ahead of the weekend strengthened, as the market waited for the release of economic data from the United States (US).
The rupiah closed up six points or 0.04 percent to the position of Rp. 14,346 per US dollar compared to the position at the close of the previous trade of Rp. 14,352 per US dollar.
“This week the market tends to wait and see on the sidelines ahead of big data such as US non-farm payroll labor data next week and the anticipation of additional sanctions from the war in Ukraine,” said DCFX Futures analyst Lukman Leong when contacted in Jakarta, Friday.
Meanwhile, regarding the US central bank, the Federal Reserve (The Fed), which indicated it would raise interest rates more aggressively, market participants had relatively anticipated it.
“I see that the Fed’s rate hike cycle has been priced in by the market for a while. Domestic fundamentals are still solid, such as the CAD, trade balance, FDI, declining COVID-19, and others,” said Lukman.
Economic data on the US labor market helped strong expectations the Fed will be more aggressive in taking steps to curb inflation.
Weekly initial jobless claims fell to 187,000 claims last week, the lowest level since September 1969 and below the forecast of 212,000 claims.
The data and recent comments from Fed officials have reinforced the view that the central bank will raise interest rates by more than 25 basis points at its next policy meeting in May.
In the morning, the rupiah opened higher to a position of Rp. 14,347 per US dollar. Throughout the day the rupiah moved in the range of Rp. 14,334 per US dollar to Rp. 14,3855 per US dollar.
Meanwhile, the Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) exchange rate for Bank Indonesia on Friday strengthened to Rp14,341 per US dollar compared to the previous day’s position of Rp14,361 per US dollar. (ojn/mhn/bbs)
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