RUPIAH TENDS TO BE STABLE EARLY FRIDAY

Jakarta, Feb. 6 (ANTARA) - The rupiah tended to be stable in the Jakarta interbank spot market early Friday, although it advanced in the first minutes of the market opening, but fell on market pressure.

The rupiah traded at Rp11,755/11,805 per US dollar, up five points from Rp11,760/11,780 in the market's close a day earlier.
Banking Retail Director of PT Bank Mega Tbk. Kostaman Thayib said the market had been positive toward the rupiah, because market players released the greenback in the domestic money market for profit taking.
When the market opened, the rupiah gained 25 points to Rp11,735 per US dollar, however after 25 minutes of trading, the rupiah fell slightly.
The negative sentiment in the market made the rupiah hard to move up, especially due to a recent report on the Indonesian export growth which significantly dropped.
Investors tended to keep the US dollars over concern on the sluggish Indonesian economic growth.
The global economic crisis was the main factor which pressured the Indonesian export growth as demands for the Indonesian commodities especially from the United States of America and Europe plunged.
Therefore, the government was looking for new markets in Central European countries, which recorded sound economic growths.
Bank Indonesia (BI) would likely intervene in the money market to push the rupiah to the level of RP11,000 per US dollar, he said.