Indonesian Rupiah strengthened today due to U.S employment rate hike. (Image via Tempo.co)

The U.S unemployment rate supports IDR to 16,445/USD

On Friday’s foreign exchange (forex) spot market opening, Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) is seen at Rp16,445 against the U.S Dollar (USD). The rate strengthened by 0.30 percent compared to Thursday’s closing rate at Rp16,495/USD. For today, IDR is moving around Rp16,470 - Rp16,700/USD.

Together with IDR, the currencies in Asia – ASEAN regions showed different reactions. Reportedly, S. Korean Won (KRW) strengthened by 0.04 percent, Philippines Peso (PHP) by 0.18 percent, and Thai Baht (THB) by 0.27 percent.

Except that, the currencies weakened instead. Reportedly, the Japanese Yen (JPY) weakened by 0.02 percent, Singaporean Dollar (SGD) by 0.03 percent, New Taiwanese Dollar (NTD) by 0.13 percent, Indian Rupee (INR) by 0.03 percent, and Chinese Yuan (RMB) by 0.11 percent against the USD.

Both Malaysian Ringgit (MYR) and the Hong Kong Dollar (HKD) remain stagnant.

On the other side of the world, the majority of currencies of the developed countries weakened instead against the USD. Reportedly, Great Britain Pound sterling (GBP) weakened by 0.09 percent, the Australian Dollar (AUD) by 0.03 percent, and the Canadian Dollar (CAD) by 0.12 percent.

Meanwhile, Swiss Franc (CRF) remains stagnant.

Indonesian forex experts said that IDR’s strengthening was brought by the U.S unemployment statistics. The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic on the land caused the weekly unemployment statistics to increase to 3.28 million. The figure broke the previous weekly unemployment record in 1982 at 695,000.

The U.S Government aims to tackle the unemployment surge and the COVID-19 with the US$2 trillion stimuli.

Source: https://bit.ly/2w8jdJV