Indonesia’s rupiah edged higher against the dollar in an early Friday snapshot, while Bank Indonesia (BI)’s daily benchmark later showed a slight weakening, giving different readings of the currency’s move.
FXStreet reported USD/IDR near 18,110 at 1:04 a.m. ET (05:04 UTC) Friday, after the pair edged down following two sessions of gains. That snapshot indicated an intraday rupiah advance against the dollar, but came before BI’s reference rate for the date was published.
BI’s Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) was 18,069 rupiah per dollar on Oct. 23, up from 18,047 on Oct. 22. The 22-rupiah increase indicated a slight day-over-day weakening of the rupiah. JISDOR draws on interbank trades from 10 p.m. ET Thursday to 4 a.m. ET Friday (9 a.m.-3 p.m. WIB) and is released at 4:15 a.m. ET (08:15 UTC). The Oct. 23 JISDOR was also above its Oct. 20 level of 18,006 rupiah per dollar.
Reuters reported that concerns about the durability of AI spending increased demand for safer assets, with the yen among the beneficiaries. It said the Japanese currency was on course for its largest weekly gain since early September. Shoki Omori, Deutsche Bank’s chief fixed-income strategist for Japan, told Reuters, “The yen was bought as a hedge, not as an allocation.”
BI said the rupiah weakened 0.61% against the dollar from the end of September through Oct. 20, citing Middle East tensions, tighter U.S. monetary policy and foreign investor sentiment toward Indonesian stocks. At its Oct. 20-21 meeting, the central bank held the BI-Rate at 5.75% and the Lending Facility rate at 6.50%, while raising the Deposit Facility rate to 5.00%. It also strengthened incentives for domestic non-deliverable forward (DNDF) hedging to support the rupiah and attract foreign capital, as part of its recent rupiah support measures.
The Federal Open Market Committee is scheduled to meet Oct. 27-28.
