COVID-19 causes IDR to weaken to Rp15,975/USD. (Image via Tempo.co)

IDR weakens to Rp15,975/USD amid COVID-19

On Monday’s foreign exchange (forex) spot market opening, Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) is seen at Rp15,975 against the U.S Dollar (USD). The rate weakened by 0.09 percent compared to Friday’s closing rate at Rp15,960/USD. For today, IDR is moving around Rp15,550 - Rp16,250/USD.

Today, the majority of the currencies in the Asia – ASEAN regions also weakened against the USD. Reportedly, S. Korean Won (KRW) weakened by 2.65 percent, Thai Baht (THB) by 0.54 percent, Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) by 0.52 percent, the Singaporean Dollar (SGD) by 0.48 percent, Indian Rupee (INR) by 0.28 percent, Turkish Lira (TRY) by 0.18 percent, and Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) by 0.01 percent.

Only the Japanese Yen (JPY) strengthened by 0.30 percent against the USD.

On the other side of the world, the majority of currencies in the developed countries region also weakened against the USD. Both the Australian Dollar (AUD) and the Canadian Dollar (CAD) weakened by 0.98 percent and 0.62 percent, while Great Britain Pound sterling (GBP) and the European Union Euro (EUR) weakened by 0.29 percent and 0.26 percent.

Indonesian forex experts explained that the weakening of IDR today is still affected by the negative macroeconomics sentiment due to the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) on the global and domestic scales.

The minimum macroeconomics data has affected the limitation on forex trading’s mobility, while the pandemic is still haunting the market. Thus, IDR is harmed by the trend. Reportedly, IDR sits in the third place of the hardest-hit countries in ASEAN with 514 cases. From the number, 48 died, making it the highest death rate throughout ASEAN.

Source: https://bit.ly/2UuLPoN