RUPIAH WEAKENS AGAINST US DOLLAR

Jakarta, Sept. 14 (ANTARA) - The rupiah weakened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market here on Monday morning on profit taking moves.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp9,945-Rp9,960 per US dollar, down 33 points from the figure at the market's close last weekend.

Investors released the local unit to take profit after it had appreciated significantly, Kostaman Thayib, retail banking director of PT Bank Mega Tbk, said here early Monday.

However, despite the rupiah sell-offs, the local unit did not weaken beyond the Rp10,000 level, he said.

He believed the rupiah still had a chance to strengthen again following gains at regional bourses.

The rupiah depreciated because it had earlier gained significantly from Rp10.180 per US dollar to below Rp10,000 per US dollar.

He predicted that the rupiah would move upward below the level of Rp9,900 per US dollar as foreign investors were expected to reenter the domestic capital market.

Moreover, the rupiah was predicted to reach the level of Rp9,500 per US dollar, boosted by several stable macro-economic indicators, including the unchanged BI rate, he said.

The rupiah was expected to strengthen to below Rp10,000 per US dollar this week as the market would be positive, he said.

Meanwhile, the Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) here on Monday morning opened slightly lower on profit taking moves following rallies over the past five days.

The BEI index fell 16.662 points or 0.69 percent to 2,399.284 and the LQ-45 index weakened 4.043 points or 0.86 percent to 466.923 points.

The BEI Index depreciated because investors released their shares to take profit following rallies for five consecutive days and regional bourse gains, Alfiasyah, a stock broker of PT Sinarmas Securities, said.