Rupiah strengthens against U.S. dollar<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The rupiah strengthened impressively yesterday
\nclosing at its highest level in a month at 8,700 against the U.S
\ndollar due to renewed confidence in the country's economy.<\/p>\n
Currency dealers said the market shrugged off local newspaper
\nreports of sporadic riots in several towns in East Java and
\nSulawesi.<\/p>\n
The dealers said Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's
\nproposal to help Indonesia settle its import financing problems
\ncreated new optimism in the country's economy.<\/p>\n
Goh proposed Tuesday the establishment of a multilateral
\ncommittee to guarantee letters of credit (L\/Cs) issued by
\nIndonesian banks to help Indonesia finance vital imports.<\/p>\n
Indonesian importers have complained the past few weeks that
\nforeign banks are reluctant to take L\/Cs issued by Indonesian
\nbanks fearing the latter are unable to service their commitments.<\/p>\n
\"The Singapore Prime Minister's proposal created a new
\noptimism over the country's ailing economy,\" one dealer said.<\/p>\n
\"This prompted dollar selling by local and overseas funds.
\nThis is the main factor for the strengthening of the rupiah,\" he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
Dealers said the rupiah's surge was also due to the central
\nbank repeatedly intervening.<\/p>\n
\"But we have no confirmed details on the amounts of
\nintervention by the central bank,\" another dealer said.<\/p>\n
Spot rupiah closed at 8,700\/9,000 against the American dollar
\nfrom its opening at 9,900\/10,200.<\/p>\n
The rupiah closed at 9,900\/10,200 against the American dollar
\nthe previous day.<\/p>\n
\"The rupiah maintained its upward trend against the U.S.
\ndollar for the whole trading day, though trading volume remained
\nthin,\" a dealer said.<\/p>\n
Most currency dealers expected the government would make new
\nfinancial moves in the near future to further bring the rupiah
\ncloser to the 5,000 mark, the exchange rate used by the
\ngovernment in calculating the 1998\/1999 fiscal year budget
\nbeginning in April.<\/p>\n
The rupiah hit an all-time low of 17,000 against the American
\ndollar in early January due to mounting fears that Indonesian
\ncorporations could not pay their huge overseas debts.<\/p>\n
As the rupiah strengthened, stock prices on the Jakarta Stock
\nExchange (JSX) declined 3.14 percent on persistent profit taking
\nfor the second consecutive day in a correction of Monday's gains,
\nbrokers said.<\/p>\n
The JSX Composite Price Index dropped 16.86 points to 519.92
\npoints from 536.79 the previous day with a total turnover of
\n759.73 million shares on the regular market valued at Rp 687.19
\nbillion (US$78.98 million).<\/p>\n
Stockbrokers said market sentiment remained negative for the
\nwhole trading day yesterday as most foreign investors focussed on
\nprofit taking on bellwether stocks like PT Telkom and PT Indosat.<\/p>\n
\"Profit taking by foreign investors dominated trading
\nactivities in the bourse yesterday,\" a broker with a joint-
\nventure securities said. (aly)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rupiah-strengthens-against-us-dollar-1447893297",
"image": ""
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"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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