Rupiah strengthens to Rp15,438 per US dollar

Jumat, 17 April 2020 13:21 WIB

Rupiah strengthens.

Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Indonesian rupiah strengthened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank market on Friday morning on the back of positive sentiment toward risk assets.

The rupiah soared 202 points, or 1.29 percent, to Rp15,438 as compared to Rp15,640 per US dollar earlier.

"This morning, risk assets received a positive sentiment after some European countries and the US announced plans to lift the coronavirus lockdown to revive their economy along with a slow pace of spread of coronavirus," Monex Investindo Futures Chief Researcher Ariston Tjendra stated in Jakarta on Friday.

US President Donald Trump had recently announced a guide to lifting the coronavirus lockdown in three phases, and 29 states can lift it in the near future.

The positive sentiment also came from a report of US company Gilead Sciences pertaining to progress in the production of COVID-19 drugs.

The positive sentiment may offset a negative sentiment likely to arise from data of China's first-quarter national gross domestic product (GDP) forecast to contract 6.2 percent and the data of China's production expected to fall seven percent in March 2020.

"The rupiah will potentially strengthen today to Rp15,450, from Rp15,700," he added.

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