REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The rupiah continued the correction towards the US dollar in the past four days, falling 10 points to Rp14,130 per dollar at the Jakarta inter-bank market on Monday evening. Bank Mandiri market analyst Rully Arya Wisnubroto said that the US dollar's appreciation and global sentiment have put pressure on the Indonesian currency.
"The market is still awaiting certainty about the US-China trade deals. On a domestic side, the demand for dollars is still high, reflected by capital outflow from the stock market in the past few days," he stated.
The high-trade deficit also posed a negative sentiment to the rupiah's exchange rate, he added. He predicted that the country's trade deficit will still see a deficit in February 2019. "We predict that the trade deficit will continue to happen and the rupiah will tend to weaken," he remarked.
The rupiah weakened at Rp14,138 per dollar in the morning trade, moving within the range of Rp14,115 to Rp14,155 per dollar.
According to the Bank Indonesia (BI) mid rate on Monday, the rupiah fell to Rp14,149 per dollar from the previous close of Rp14,111 per dollar.