RUPIAH DOWN TO NEARLY RP12,000 PER US DOLLAR

Jakarta, March 30 (ANTARA) - The rupiah sharply went down to nearly Rp12,000 per US dollar on profit taking in the Jakarta interbank spot market on Monday afternoon.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp11,743/11,745 per US dollar, down 248 points to Rp11,495/11,510 per US dollar.

The local currency depreciated because the money market was down, Edwin Sinaga, president director of PT Financorpindo Nusa, said here on Monday.

However, despite a significant loss, the rupiah was still under the level of Rp12,000 per US dollar, he said.

Therefore, Bank Indonesia (BI) was expected to just monitor the money market closely and not to intervene in the market, he said.

BI, the country's central bank, would enter the domestic money market and release its dollar reserves only if the rupiah reached the level of over Rp12,000 per US dollar, he said.

Sinaga said BI would monitor activities of foreign banks trading the greenbacks over worry that they might speculate by buying the US dollars in large amount.

The central bank did not want the rupiah to be over Rp12,000 per US dollar, he said.

The Indonesian currency was at Rp11,510/11,525 per US dollar, down 15 points from Rp11,495/11,505 per US dollar on Monday morning. ***