• Indonesian Rupiah Depreciates Further, No Positive Sentiments Yet

    The Indonesian rupiah continued to set a new record-low in the post Asian Financial Crisis era. Based on the Bloomberg Dollar Index, the rupiah depreciated 0.07 percent to IDR 13,290 per US dollar on Friday (05/06), the weakest level since 1998. A number of factors are responsible for this weak performance. These include higher bond yields, US dollar demand due to dividend repatriation and debt repayment, Indonesia’s high inflation, uncertainty about the Greek debt crisis and looming higher US interest rates.

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  • Southeast Asia’s Agricultural Commodity Producers Brace for El Nino

    In the past couple of weeks unusually dry weather in several parts of Southeast Asia has led to expectation that harvests of agricultural commodities in the region will be disappointing. More and more weather forecasters are convinced that the El Nino weather phenomenon (i.e. periodical warm ocean water temperatures off the western coast of South America that can cause climatic changes across the Pacific Ocean) is to return this year causing droughts in the key agricultural-producing countries.

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  • Bank Indonesia’s Consumer Confidence Index Signals Improved Optimism

    The latest Consumer Confidence Index, compiled by the central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) shows that Indonesian consumers have become more optimistic about their economic prospects in May 2015. The index rose to 112.8 points in May, up 5.4 points from the preceding month (a score higher than 100.0 signal consumer optimism). It was the first time this year that Bank Indonesia’s Consumer Confidence Index, which is based on a sample of 4,600 household in 18 major Indonesian cities, increased.

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  • IPO News Indonesia: Binakarya Jaya Abadi & Anabatic Technologies

    Two companies announced to conduct an initial public offering (IPO) on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) this month in order to raise funds for further business expansion. These companies are property developer Binakarya Jaya Abadi and IT solutions provider Anabatic Technologies. Up to the start of June, a total of five companies have been listed (including the relisting of Mitra Energi Persada) on the IDX this year. The IDX targets to list a total of 32 companies on the exchange this year.

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