RUPIAH SIGNIFICANTLY STRENGTHENS TO BELOW RP10,000

Jakarta, Sept. 9 (ANTARA) - The rupiah significantly strengthened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market here on Wednesday morning on high demand for the local currency.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp9,915-Rp9,925 per US dollar, up 70 points from Rp9,985-Rp9,995 at the market's close a day earlier.

The rupiah was looking for a new balance with an exchange rate at the level of below Rp10,000 per US dollar, Fauzi Ichsan, an economist of Standard Chartered Bank, said.

The new balance would take a long time to achieve because the rupiah was expected to reach the level of Rp9,500 per US dollar at the end of this year, he said.

The weakening of the US greenback against the Euro also helped the Indonesian currency to gain, he said.

The domestic money market was also boosted by news of a plan of Group 20 (G20) consisting of developed and developing countries, to continue a substantial stimulus package to ensure global economic recovery, he said.

Meanwhile, the BEI (Indonesian Stock Exchange) index went down 5.582 points or 0.24 percent to 2,365.554 points and the LQ-45 index weakened 1.570 points or 0.33 percent to 469.081 points.