Rupiah Extends Gains Over US Dollar on Friday

Jakarta (Antara) - The Indonesian currency rupiah gained over the US dollar in the first minutes of trade on Friday on central bank's decision to maintain its benchmark interest rate (BI rate), analysts said. The currency traded at the level of 11,775 from earlier level of 11,789 per US dollar. "The board of governors of Bank Indonesia decided at a meeting yesterday to maintain the BI rate at 7.5 percent indicating inflation could still be put under control," Rully Nova, a financial market observer from Bank Himpunan Saudara , said. In addition, the country hopes to chalk up trade surplus again with stronger economic growth recorded by China, Rully said. China has become one of the country's major trading partners. Meanwhile, Japan decided to curb liberalization of its economic stimulus putting pressure on the US dollar. Chief researcher of Monex Investindo Futures Ariston Tjendra said that data of US retail sales and unemployment claim indicated economic downtrend causing the US dollar to slide against the majority of global currencies. Ariston said the US trade department reported retail sales rose 0.3 percent in May, falling short of earlier predicted growth of 0.6 percent. The US labor ministry claimed unemployment rose 4,000 to 317,000 denting investor optimism of US economic growth for the second quarter. (*)