Indonesian rupiah

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — The death toll from the earthquake that rocked the Indonesian island of Lombok a week ago has passed 430 and the government is estimating economic losses will exceed several hundred million dollars.

The national disaster agency said Monday the Aug. 5 quake killed 436 people, most of whom died in collapsing buildings.

A 16-year-old boy, Selamat Riayadi, has gotten married to his 71-year-old heartthrob, Rohaya, in Indonesia. The couple, who claim to be deeply in love, threatened to kill themselves if family members deterred them from getting married. Rohaya had been widowed twice before. No one knows the motivation behind the union, as both lovebirds are poor.

The dollar broadly weakened Dec. 25 as emerging market currencies got a boost from recovering oil prices, which eased fears about slumping demand and a faltering global economy.

An Indonesian passenger plane that crashed with 54 people on board in Papua province was carrying cash worth around $470,000 for remote villages, a post office spokesman said on Aug. 17 as rescue teams headed to the mountainous site where it went down. 

The dollar/Turkish Lira parity went above the 2.68 level at mid-week last week and it has shown a tendency to remain in the 2.75 lira band. The Central Bank had to make a written intervention in this situation and "challenged" that in its April 22 meeting; they would make a decision for deterrence from the dollar.

Now that the lira and other emerging market (EM) currencies have somewhat stabilized, at least for the moment, it may be useful to try to understand why some underperformed, while others overperformed, peers.

Brent crude oil prices fell over $1 per barrel and below $60 for the first time since July 2009 in early European trading today as Chinese factory activity slowed and stumbling emerging market currencies dented demand expectations.