Rupiah Turned To Beating US Dollar Thanks to Trade War

JAKARTA - The rupiah exchange rate against the US dollar (US) in the spot market on Monday opened higher. Bloomberg index on (5/3/2018) noted, the rupiah hit USD 10 points or 0.07% to the level of Rp13.747. Last weekend, the rupiah fell to Rp13.757 per USD.

Yahoo Finance data also recorded a muscular rupiah on Monday, by 7 points or 0.05% to Rp13,746 per USD. Last Friday, the NKRI currency traded lower at Rp13.753 per USD.

SINDOnews data sourced from Limas, the rupiah at the beginning of trading opened up 8 points to Rp13.737 per USD, after last weekend ended up helpless at Rp13.745 per USD.

Currency exchange rate Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (Jisdor) Bank Indonesia noted, the rupiah on Monday (5/3/2018) pegged at Rp13.740 per USD alias bullish 6 points from Friday's position at Rp13.746 per USD.

The Rupiah took advantage of a falling US dollar, following fears of a potential trade war following the announcement of US steel and aluminum tariffs by US President, Donald Trump. The USD index against a basket of currencies slipped to 89.955 as of 10:30 HK / SIN. Last week, the USD index traded at 90,500.

"The full-scale trade war is not good for global economic growth," said Rodrigo Catril, a senior foreign exchange strategist at National Australia Bank.

He explained that trade tariffs are likely to invite risk of retaliation from US trading partners. Catril added that reaction from China and other US trading partners to the official trade tariff announcement would be important.