RUPIAH CONTINUES SLIDE, DROPS TO OVER RP11,800 EARLY THURSDAY

Jakarta, Feb. 12 (ANTARA) - The rupiah continued its downward trend and fell to over Rp11,800 per US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market early Thursday as market players were still waiting to see how the US stimulus package would shape up.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp11,810/11,860 per US dollar, down 60 points from Rp11,750/11,775 at the market's close a day earlier.
The local currency weakened as market players were still in the dark about how the US government's economic stimulus package would be implemented, Rully Nova, a foreign exchange analyst of PT Bank Himpunan Saudara Tbk., said here on Thursday.
"Looking at regional currency movements in Asia at this moment, we see that not only the rupiah which has tumbled, but almost all currencies have been under pressure because of what is happening in the US. It seems that the market is not as optimistic as we had imagined before," he said.
Despite the US Senate's approval to the US$838 billion economic stimulus package, it was still unclear what the stimulus plan held out for the financial sector in particular, he said.
Rully Nova believed that Bank Indonesia (BI) would continue to curb volatility in the rupiah's exchange rate so it would remain under control.
"BI (the central bank) is always in the market, to monitor and minimize volatility to a level where it could not affect businesses and prevailing calculations," he said.
The current global economic slump was affecting Asian markets, including in Indonesia, he said.