The Most Dominant Currency in Asia: The Won

The South Korean won was the strongest performing Asian currency during the first quarter of 2017. Bloomberg data recorded that during the first three months of 2017, the Korean won appreciated by 7.69 percent to 1,119.76 per US dollar as of 9:14 WIB. This was followed by the Taiwan dollar, which strengthened by 6.4 percent to 30.38 per US dollar, and the Indian rupee, which appreciated by 4.63 percent to 64.92 per US dollar.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian rupiah only strengthened slightly by 1.13 percent to Rp 13,322 per US dollar during the first quarter of 2017. The declining export performance impacting US dollar supply, coupled with high US dollar demand towards the end of the first quarter, limited the rupiah's appreciation. This resulted in the rupiah's strengthening lagging behind other regional currencies.

Following the US Federal Reserve's (The Fed) 25 basis point increase in its benchmark interest rate to 1 percent on March 15, 2017, the US dollar tended to weaken against world currencies. Asian currencies took advantage of this condition to strengthen against the US dollar. During the first three months, the US dollar index against six major currencies weakened by 1.6 percent to 100.58 (as of 11:08 WIB).