RUPIAH STRENGTHENS AGAINST US DOLLAR EARLY WEDNESDAY

Jakarta, Sept. 30 (ANTARA) - The rupiah strengthened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market here early Wednesday as investors bought the local currency in large amounts.

The Indonesian currency traded at Rp9,680-Rp9,690 per US dollar, up 40 points from Rp9,720-Rp9,735 at the market's close a day earlier.
"Investors have ignored the issue of Wall Street bourse which had weakened following data on the US consumers' confidence index which fell," Kostaman Thayib, director of retail banking of PT Bank Mega Tbk., said here on Wednesday.

The local unit was bolstered by confidence about the September inflation rate which was expected to be lower than last month, he said.

Therefore, investors immediately bought the rupiah which weakened a day earlier, he said.

He believed the rupiah would move upward further in afternoon trading.

Investors considered Indonesia a potential market which needed to be further explored, he said.

The Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) got off to a weak start here early Wednesday on Wall Street losses.

The BEI index weakened 6.920 points or 0.28 percent to 2,436.276 points, and the LQ-45 index dropped 1.474 points or 0.31 percent to 476.063 points.

Investors sold their shares due to the negative impact of Wall Street losses, which were followed by regional bourse losses, Harry Kurniawan, a capital market observer, said here on Wednesday.