Market Pulse: A Slow But Positive Outlook

As we enter the last week of Ramadan fasting month, the Rupiah is trending stronger, hovering around the Rp13,300 per US dollar level, even with the second US Federal Reserve's 25 basis points rate hike. Meanwhile, Jakarta's Composite Index (JCI) has also risen and now is fluctuating around the 5,700 level. All this is due to the rising inflow of foreign funds, partly a result of the country's recent rating upgrade to investment category by Standard & Poor's. This explains Bank Indonesia's (BI) subsequent response of keeping its benchmark 7-day repo rate at 4.75 percent.