RUPIAH DOWN 50 POINTS ON THURSDAY AFTERNOON

Jakarta, Nov. 6 (ANTARA) - The rupiah continued to weaken against the US dollar on the Jakarta inter-bank spot market Thursday afternoon.
The Indonesian currency traded at Rp10,950/11,025 per US dollar, down 50 points from Rp10.900/10.925 a day earlier after Bank Indonesia (BI, central bank) came back to the market.
"BI intervenes in the market to lessen market pressure on the plunging rupiah, so that it remains at the level between Rp10,900 and Rp11,00 per US dollar," Retail Banking Director of PT Bank Mega Tbk Kostaman Thayib said here on Thursday.
However, he said that BI seemed to be unease for having continuously intervened in the money market which has caused the amount of the country's foreign exchange reserves to drop, although BI said that the market pressure would not last long.
He said that the central bank would not let the rupiah to be 100 percent up to the market.
Thayib said the money market also monitored the situation following the victory of Barack Obama as US president-elect, whether it would lead to the improvement of the world's economic conditions.
Moreover, Obama pledged to be committed to the growth of the currently battered US economy, he said.
If the US would focus on its economic growth, within one or two years the US economic conditions would improve and consequently, it would lead to the betterment of the world's economic conditions, including in Indonesia, he said.
"We welcome the election of Obama who is so emphatic towards the economic growth," he said.
The improvement of the US economy would help strengthen the rupiah at the level of around Rp10,000 as the purchase of US dollars by investors is expected to decrease, he said.
The amount of Indonesia's foreign exchange reserves reached around US$51 billion at the end of October 2008, down nearly US$7 billion from US$57.108 billion in September, a Bank Indonesia (BI or central bank) official said.