Jakarta (Antaranews Lampung) - The national currency rupiah fell 20 points in value in the opening inter-bank transactions to the level of 15,225 per U.S. dollar on Tuesday.
Economist of Samuel Sekuritas Ahmad Mikail said the U.S. dollar gained over a number of world currencies including rupiah on correction in the U.S. stock market.
"The correction in the U.S. share market prompted investors to invest their money in dollar denomination assets such as bonds,'Mikail said.
Senior analyst of CSA Research Institute Reza Priyambada said there are still no positive sentiments enough to curb the rupiah downtrend.
However, rupiah still is hovering over limited range of 15,200 per dollar, Reza said.
He said tighter bank liquidity contributed to curbing rupiah fluctuations .
Earlier, an economist said rupiah has hit new equilibrium at 15,000 per dollar reflecting the condition of the country's economic fundamentals.
Rector of the Atma Jaya University Agustinus Prasetyantoko said it would be difficult for rupiah to regain its loss in value over the past year amid the protracted global uncertainty, which is expected to continue through next year.
"With limited supply and liquidity rupiah would not return to the level of 13,000 or 14,000 per dollar. The level of 15,000 per dollar is a new equilibrium for rupiah ," he said.
On the other hand, he said rupiah had also hit the rock bottom that despite the global economic uncertainty, rupiah would not be sinking deeper in value than it is at present.
He recalled, in political year in 2013, rupiah was under pressure, but it regained strength immediately after the winner of the presidential election was announced in 2014.
"The condition was similar and we could recover from the situation . It seems we do not have to be worried too much. Rupiah could weaken but would not be significant," he said.
He said in short term , Bank Indonesia has been right in raising its benchmark interest rate to weather the impact of the rise in the fund rate of the Fed.
The U.S. Central Bank is yet to raise its fund rate before the end of this year and next year.
Prasetyantoko went on to say that in mid term export performance has to be improved to cut the current account deficit that rupiah would be more resilience in facing external turbulence.
He said inflows of foreign capital in 2019 would not be as strong as in earlier years and liquidity tends to be tighter.
Rupiah falls in opening of inter-bank transactions on Tuesday
Rupiah fell 20 points in value in the opening inter-bank transactions to the level of 15,225 per U.S. dollar on Tuesday (ANTARA/Wahyu Putro A)
