Rupiah Closes 0.23% Weaker, US Dollar Rises to Rp17,730
The rupiah had to concede to the strength of the US dollar in trading on Wednesday (17/6/2026), amid market anticipation of the US central bank’s interest rate decision later tonight.
According to Refinitiv data, the rupiah exchange rate closed 0.23% weaker against the greenback at Rp17,730/US.ThisdepreciationoccurredaftertherupiahhadclosedstrongerbelowtheRp17, 700/US level in the previous trading session on Monday (15/6/2026), precisely at Rp17,690/US$.
Throughout today’s trading, the rupiah began the session in the red. The Garuda currency opened 0.25% weaker at Rp17,735/US$ and remained consistently under pressure until the close.
Meanwhile, the US dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback’s strength against six major world currencies, was observed to have edged up 0.01% to 99.554 as of 15.00 Western Indonesia Time.
The US dollar’s movement tended to be limited as the market awaited the Federal Reserve’s interest rate decision. Market participants tended to refrain from taking large positions ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting results, which will be announced today. The decision is in focus as it is The Fed’s first policy meeting under the leadership of Kevin Warsh.
The Fed is still expected to maintain its benchmark interest rate. However, market participants will scrutinise the policy statement, economic projections, and press conference to gauge the direction of The Fed’s future policy. The market’s primary attention is on whether The Fed will begin to abandon its policy easing bias, especially when inflation risks are still considered high.
On the other hand, the US dollar is still moving relatively stably after having shed some of its safe-haven gains. This occurred following the emergence of details of a tentative agreement between the United States and Iran to end the war in the Middle East.
Nevertheless, market participants remain cautious. Uncertainty ahead of The Fed’s decision has kept global currency movements, including the rupiah, relatively limited.
Domestically, market attention is also focused on the Bank Indonesia (BI) Board of Governors Meeting (RDG), which commenced today and will have its results announced tomorrow, Thursday (18/6/2026).
This RDG is quite important because BI has taken aggressive steps recently to stem pressure on the rupiah. Last week, BI surprisingly raised its benchmark interest rate, the BI Rate, by 25 basis points to 5.50% through a Weekly RDG. A similar move occurred at the previous Monthly RDG, when BI raised the interest rate by 50 basis points.
Thus, the market will observe whether BI again signals a tight policy stance to maintain rupiah exchange rate stability, especially after the Garuda currency weakened again in today’s trading.