Financial market observer Lukman Leong said rupiah would continue under pressure in short term on fear of US attack on Syria and The Fed cutting its monetary stimulus.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Worries about the impact of deficit in the country`s trade balance continues to bear on rupiah that lost more value on Thursday .

Rupiah closed at the level of 11,650 per US dollar weakening from 11,405 per dollar earlier.

Meanwhile intervention continued by Bank Indonesia in a bid to keep the rupiah from diving deeper.

Financial market observer Lukman Leong from PT Platon Niaga Berjangka said rupiah would continue under pressure in short term on fear of US attack on Syria and The Fed cutting its monetary stimulus.

However, the biggest pressure is domestic factors including inflationary pressure and current account deficit, Lukman said.

"In mid and long terms, rupiah would strengthen with less inflationary pressure, which was caused by the rise in the prices of oil fuels and big spending during Idul Fitri," he said.

In addition, the current account deficit is expected to narrow or reduced with falling demand for imports of oil fuels, he said.

On Thursday, in the mid exchange rates of Bank Indonesia rupiah was recorded to fall in value to 11,125 per dollar from 10,093 earlier.

Meanwhile, the Jakarta composite share price index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) extended losses closing 22.59 points lower on Thursday.

The BEI index fell 0.56 percent to 4,050.86 points with the index of 45 most liquid stocks down 0.60 percent to 669.58 points.

Global uncertainties, worsened by fears of US attack on Syria and The Fed cutting its monetary stimulus, dragged the BEI index down lower, HD Capital`s analyst Yuganur Wijanarko said here on Thursday.

Trust Securities` chief researcher Reza Priyambada foreign investors are still selling shares with net sales reaching Rp122.549 billion on Thursday, serving another blow to the BEI index.

"Rupiah weakening also contributed to negative sentiment in the market," Reza said.

Thursday`s trading recorded 157,197 transactions with 4.45 billion shares worth Rp5.30 trillion changing hands.

Regional markets such as Hang Seng recorded a 1.22 percent increase in index to 22,597.97 points with Nikkei-225 index up 0.08 percent to 14,064.82 points and that of Straits Times rising 0.80 percent to 3,039.45 points.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013