Rupiah Gains 20 points Against US Dollar

Jakarta, Jan 7 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian currency rupiah gained 20 points against the US dollar in the opening trade on Monday morning on report of an increase in US unemployment rate. "The US dollar weakened after the US unemployment rate rose higher than expected," chief researcher of Monex Investindo Futures Ariston Tjendra said here on Monday. The currency traded at 9,655 to the dollar in inter-bank transactions in Jakarta strengthening from the level of 9,657 earlier. Ariston said the increase in US unemployment rate triggered speculations that the Fed would not stop its stimulus policy shortly as expected. He said rupiah could still rise though slightly . Meanwhile,Trust Securities` analyst Reza Priyambada said rupiah`s move to a higher level was checked by the FED`s possible decision to stop stimulus as it does not want too much stimulus to affect the US financial stability. Reza said negative sentiment in the financial market was brought about by a decline in the index of Chinese service sector.