Bank Indonesia helps stabilize rupiah

Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Bank Indonesia (BI), the country`s central bank, entered the money market here Thursday morning to help stabilize the rupiah in Jakarta interbank spot transactions.

The Indonesian currency which had previously tended to be stable traded at Rp9,945-Rp9,960 per US dollar.

BI intervened in the market to ease market pressure following continued demand for the local unit, Kostaman Thayib, retail banking director of PT Bank Mega Tbk., said.

The central bank`s intervention eventually made the local currency less volatile, he said.

The rupiah had in fact surged 15 points in the first minutes of morning trading, but its appreciation did not last long as it returned to the level of Rp9,945 per US dollar at the market`s close by late morning.

He believed the market sentiment about the rupiah was still negative despite improvements in the country`s economic fundamentals.

But investors still considered Indonesia a potential market and therefore the Indonesian currency still had a chance to strengthen again, he said.

Kostaman Thayib was optimistic that the rupiah would surge in afternoon trading as Bank Indonesia continued to release US dollars and buy the local currency.(*)

sumber : antaranews