Rupiah Unchanged In Value Against U.S. Dollar

Jakarta, Jan 9 (Antara) - The rupiah value remained unchanged in the opening trade ahead of the monthly central bank meeting on Thursday. In inter-bank transactions, rupiah traded at the same level of 12,205 per dollar as earlier. "Ahead of the meeting of Bank Indonesia council of governors , the rupiah exchange rate was stable with the market players expecting the central bank to maintain its benchmark interest rate (BI rate) at 7.5 percent," chief researcher of Trust Securities, Reza Priyambada, said. Reza said the BI is not expected to raise the BI rate amid positive domestic economic data with the surplus in trade balance, inflation being under control, and an increase in the foreignj exchange reserves. The market players, however, will continue to watch how aggressive the US central bank in trimming its financial stimulus, he said. "Rupiah rise would be limited as the market players are awaiting the implementation of the tapering off," he added. Financial market analyst of Bank Mandiri, Rully Arya Wisnubroto, said capital outflow still shadowed the rupiah movement. "Rupiah will still be stable in mid term at the levels of 12,050--12,300 per dollar," he predicted.