Indonesia: FDI flows impacted by coronavirus in Q1 – UOB

Pablo Piovano FXStreet

Economist Enrico Tanuwidjaja at UOB Group and Haris Handy reviewed the recent figures of the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country.

Key Quotes

“Indonesia’s direct investment slowed by 8.0% y/y (to IDR 2010.7tr) in 1Q20 vis-à-vis 12.0% growth seen in the previous quarter. Despite still growing in 1Q20, the trend might reverse for the rest of the year as investors delayed investment decisions due to the concerns surrounding the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.”

“Singapore remained the largest foreign investor in Indonesia, with investment valued at USD 2.7bn for 3,006 projects, followed by China at USD 1.3bn for 650 projects, and Hong Kong at USD 0.6bn for 554 projects.”

“Going forward, we are cautiously optimistic that Indonesia will be able to attract much-needed longer-term investment in the country, after the pandemic is over, given the resilient of domestic economy and prudent fiscal spending. Nevertheless, continuous reforms and policy actions, as well as better ground implementation needs to be ensured to in order to achieve lower perception of risk, higher and stickier investment in the future.”

Author

Pablo Piovano

FXStreet

Born and bred in Argentina, Pablo has been carrying on with his passion for FX markets and trading since his first college years.

EUR/USD remains offered below 1.1800, looks at US data

EUR/USD is still trading on the defensive in the latter part of Thursday’s session, while the US Dollar maintains its bid bias as investors now gear up for Friday’s key release of the PCE data, advanced Q4 GDP prints and flash PMIs.

GBP/USD bounces off monthly lows near 1.3430

GBP/USD is sliding in tandem with its risk-sensitive peers, drifting back towards the 1.3430 area, its lowest levels in the month. The move reflects a firmer Greenback, supported by another round of solid US data and a somewhat divided FOMC Minutes.

Gold drifts higher to near $5,000 on heightened US-Iran tensions

Gold price holds positive ground near $5,000 during the early Asian session on Friday. The precious metal edges higher as escalating tensions between the United States and Iran boost safe-haven demand. Traders brace for the preliminary reading of US Gross Domestic Product for the fourth quarter, the Personal Consumption Expenditures and the S&P Global Purchasing Managers Index data, which are due later on Friday.

Ethereum: Active addresses halt growth as US selling pressure eases

Ethereum network growth has declined after two months of explosive increase. US selling pressure has eased following an improvement in the Coinbase Premium Index. ETH extends its range-bound move below the $2,107 resistance and above $1,740 .

Hawkish Fed minutes and a market finding its footing

It was green across the board for US Stock market indexes at the close on Wednesday, with most S&P 500 names ending higher, adding 38 points (0.6%) to 6,881 overall. At the GICS sector level, energy led gains, followed by technology and consumer discretionary, while utilities and real estate posted the largest losses.

Injective token surges over 13% following the approval of the mainnet upgrade proposal

Injective price rallies over 13% on Thursday after the network confirmed the approval of its IIP-619 proposal. The green light for the mainnet upgrade has boosted traders’ sentiment, as the upgrade aims to scale Injective’s real-time Ethereum Virtual Machine architecture and enhance its capabilities to support next-generation payments.