The Indonesian rupiah fell 20 points to close at Rp13,529 per dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market on Friday evening, compared to the previous close of Rp13,509 per dollar.
“The US dollar continued its rally against the majority of the main global currencies, including rupiah, along with investors optimism about the looming Fed rate hike in December 2016,” chief researcher Ariston Tjjendra of Monex Investindo Futures said here on Friday.
The US dollars appreciation was also supported by US president-elect Donald Trumps plan to raise fiscal budget and slash taxes to boost economic growth and curb inflation rate.
“The faster-than-expected US economic growth will lead to an increase in the inflation rate, which may encourage the Fed to tighten its monetary policy in 2017,” he stated.
Under these circumstances, funds parked abroad in developing nations will move to the US, which will automatically cause the dollar to appreciate against other currencies, he noted.
On the other hand, the prices of global crude which dropped this weekend also influenced commodity currencies, including rupiah.
On Friday evening, WTI Crude fell by 0.88 percent to US$47.54 per barrel, while Brent Crude dropped 1.18 percent to touch US$48.42 per barrel.