Indonesian Rupiah to Hong Kong Dollar exchange rates aren't all the same.
The total cost you are charged by your bank or foreign exchange provider consists of a margin from the interbank mid-rate plus fees.
These margins and fees vary significantly for International Money Transfers and Travel Money transactions as shown below.
When determining the best time to make a foreign exchange transaction, in this case the IDR vs HKD, you should pay attention to the recent market trends for both currencies.
Indonesian Rupiah (IDR)
The rupiah slipped in mid-May to 4-month lows against the US dollar (Rp.14,450) and yen (Rp.132), though it was steady against the Australian dollar (Rp.9,960). This pattern shows how much of the rupiah’s recent movements have been driven by risk sentiment. The rupiah remains historically weak, given its proximity to October’s 20-year low of Rp.15,265 per USD.
Weighing on investor sentiment this year has been the significant escalation in US-China trade tensions. Washington and Beijing both stepped up measures against one another.
For the rupiah, not helping matters in May was news of Indonesia’s worst monthly trade deficit in 6 years, at US$2.5 billion.
With exports struggling, Indonesia’s central bank is under pressure to lower interest rates from 6 percent, but having already pledged to support the rupiah, these rate cuts are unlikely to come, for now.
Capital Economics said in May that the rupiah would be “vulnerable to sudden falls during periods of weak risk appetite.”
DBS warned of “dire consequences” for emerging market currencies like the rupiah if no trade agreement is struck between the US and China.
Hong Kong Dollar (HKD)
The Hong Kong dollar has gained value in 2019 despite a serious escalation in US-China trade tensions, mainly because the US dollar, to which HKD is pegged, is attracting safe-haven inflows. By May-17, against a basket of important currencies, HKD was worth 2 percent more year-to-date, and was only 0.5 percent away from making a 2-year high.
HKD was doing particularly well against the Australian dollar. It was, at the time of writing, valued 18 percent higher than 2018 lows against AUD and needed only a further 2.3 percent to reach a 10-year high. Though HKD was meeting significant resistance in mid-May at the 5.4 per AUD level, a break of this could spark significant appreciation.
Why can't I just get the IDR/HKD market rate I see online or in the media?
The mid-rate is the rate you will see quoted online or the news. It is actually just the half-way point (hence mid-rate) between
the last rate at which the IDR / HKD was traded (bought or sold) in the international markets.
All foreign exchange providers charge a fee for providing their service and this fee is usually contained within the exchange rate margin (or difference to the mid-rate).
Some providers such as Transferwise will quote you the mid-rate (or close to) and charge a separate percentage fee.
Getting a good market rate is mainly about timing however the transaction margin
you end up being charged can be considerably reduced by around a few percent (of total amount being exchanged) for
travel money and possibly over 5% to 6% when sending money.
The exact potential savings depends on the currencies being exchanged and the amount you are transferring and if you are willing to shop around.
