RUPIAH WEAKENS 70 POINTS EARLY TUESDAY

Jakarta, June 9 (ANTARA) - The rupiah again fell against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market on Tuesday morning as profit taking moves continued.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp10,075-Rp10,100 per US dollar, down 70 points from Rp10,005-Rp10,015 per US dollar at the market's close a day earlier.

The actions of releasing the rupiah continued, leading the local unit to weaken to above the level of Rp10,000 per US dollar, Rully Nova, a foreign currency analyst of PT Bank Himpunan Saudara Tbk, said here on Tuesday.

The rupiah slump was expected not to last long, he said. The local unit tumbled following Wall Street stock losses, which also affected regional bourses. When the Wall Street stock rebounds, the rupiah would strengthen again, he said.

The rupiah fluctuation was normal in daily transaction affected by both positive and negative factors, Nova said.

So, it was just an ordinary dynamism because the demand and supply factor played a crucial role in the trading, he said.

However, he believed the local unit still had a chance to strengthen again, especially if the upcoming presidential elections scheduled for July 8, 2009, could run peacefully and smoothly, and foreign investors were active in the domestic money market.

Foreign investors were still interested in placing their funds in the domestic money market because the rupiah's bank interest was quite high, he said.

Indonesia, according to him, still could grow further given the active transactions by foreign investors in the domestic market, especially the president has set a target of economic growth at 7 percent in 2010.

"We are optimistic that if the Indonesian economic prospect is growing well, the foreign fund inflow will be larger," he said.

The Indonesian currency earlier traded at below Rp10,000 per US dollar, following the Asian Development Bank (ADB)'s decision to provide a loan amounting to US$1 million to Indonesia.