Rupiah Gains Against U.S. Dollar

Jakarta, Jan 2 (Antara) - The Indonesian currency rupiah gained against the US dollar in the opening trade on Thursday on exchange rate adjustment by market players. The currency traded at the level of 12,250 per dollar in inter-bank transaction gaining 24 points from the level of 12,274 earlier. Rupiah began to strengthen to follow the global trend with the majority of global currencies including euro gaining against dollar, analysts said. The euro gained especially after the president of the European Central Bank said that it was not yet necessary to cut its benchmark interest rate. They said the rupiah also follow the trend in the Indonesian Stock Market (BEI). Financial market analyst from Bank Himpunan Saudara Rully Nova said rupiah could still gain more strength with Bank Indonesia benchmark interest rate (BI rate) remaining relatively high. The BI rate, recently raised to 7.5 percent, had not only curbed capital flight but encouraged inflows of foreign capital to the country, Rully said However, he warned that liquidity of dollar would be tighter in 2014 after the Fed`s trimming its massive financial stimulus. The Fed has decided to reduce bond buying program from US$85 billion a month to US$75 billion.