RUPIAH CONTINUES TO STRENGTHEN AGAINST US DOLLAR

Jakarta, Oct. 16 (ANTARA) - The rupiah continued to strengthen against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market here on Friday morning.

The Indonesian currency traded Rp9,350-Rp9,365 per US dollar, up 15 points from that at the market's close a day earlier.

The market's positive sentiment was still going on and expected to boost the local unit to reach the level of Rp9,300 per US dollar, Harry Kurniawan, a domestic money market observer, said.

Foreign investors were very active in the domestic market and helped bolstered the Indonesian currency to move upward to the level of above Rp9,300 per US dollar, he said.

The rupiah gain was also thanks to the weakening of the US greenback which continued to occur in regional markets. Another factor was the continued US trade deficit.

He, therefore, believed that the rupiah still had a big chance to approach the level of Rp9,000 per US dollar.

Next week, despite expected profit taking moves, the rupiah most likely would continue to gain, Harry Kurniawan, concurrently Director of PT Makinta Securities, said.

Investors might want to take profit after the rupiah has strengthened over the past three consecutive days, according to Kurniawan.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati in Jakarta on Thursday (Oct. 15) said the ongoing strengthening of the Indonesian currency had both positive and negative impacts.

However, the government would try to find out a mid-term stability of the rupiah, the minister said.

One of the impacts to the country's economy was an inflation rate drop because prices of imported goods have decreased, she said.