RUPIAH STRENGTHENS AGAINST US DOLLAR LATE WEDNESDAY

Jakarta, April 15 (ANTARA) - The rupiah strengthened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market here on Wednesday afternoon.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp10,825/10,840 per US dollar, up 40 points from Rp10,865/10,875 per US dollar.
The market's positive sentiments were triggered by a smooth implementation of the legislative elections which was held last April 9, 2009, and the government's success in absorbing the public funds through bond offers, Edwin Sinaga, president director of PT Finan Corpindo Nusa, said here on Wednesday.
"We had earlier predicted that the rupiah would further gain in the afternoon," he said.
However, he hoped that the rupiah's surge would not be too fast because it could cause a negative effect on exports.
Exporters would suffer a big loss if the local currency continued to strengthen, he said.
The rupiah idealistically should stay at the level of Rp11,000 per US dollar, so that exporters and importers could be in a balanced position in the business, he said.
"We are optimistic that Bank Indonesia (BI) will also make some efforts to control the rupiah so that it will not surge too fast, because it will not benefit exporters," he said.