US Dollar Strengthens Against Indonesian Rupiah Amid US Employment Data and Crude Oil Price Surge
The US Dollar (USD) gained strength against the Indonesian Rupiah (IDR) on Monday, with the USD/IDR pair trading around 17,700 during Asian hours.
This comes after stronger-than-expected United States employment data fueled expectations of an imminent Federal Reserve interest rate hike. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that August Nonfarm Payrolls rose by 162,000, significantly outperforming the 56,000 forecast.
The unemployment rate held steady at 4.1%, and annual wage growth slowed less than anticipated to 3.1%. As a result, traders rapidly priced in tighter monetary policy, with the CME FedWatch tool indicating a 58.3% probability of a 25-basis-point Fed rate increase in September.
The US Dollar also received support from rising crude oil prices, which have stoked fears of rekindled inflationary pressures following a geopolitical escalation between the US and Iran over the weekend.