Rupiah Weakens to Rp 15,658 per US$ (Thursday, April 16)

The Rupiah opened weaker on Thursday (April 16th) trading at Rp 15,658/US$. Ariston Tjendra, Vice President of Monex Investindo Futures, revealed that negative sentiment returned to the financial market this morning due to newly released US economic data. This data includes March retail sales data, which fell significantly by -8.7%, the deepest decline since 1992.

Furthermore, Tjendra stated that the New York manufacturing activity index also plummeted by -78.2. The US Federal Reserve's report also indicates the potential for further deterioration of the US economy going forward. The Rupiah is expected to follow the negative global sentiment in the range of Rp 15,550-15,575/US$.

Quoting Bloomberg, all Asian currencies weakened. The highest weakening was seen in the South Korean won (0.8%), Malaysian ringgit (0.65%), and Japanese yen (0.34%).