Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Indonesian rupiah currency strengthened at Rp11,575 per dollar on Wednesday morning following a report that the US Federal Reserve will defend its monetary stimulus policy.

The rupiah traded at Rp11,575 per dollar in the Jakarta interbank market on Wednesday morning, up by 19 points from Rp11,594 per dollar the day before.

The Fed would defend its loose monetary policy for as long as needed and would only begin to reduce stimulus when it was assured that labor market improvements would continue, said Ariston Tjendra, chief researcher of Monex Investindo Futures.

"Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke also said the low interest rate policy could be maintained though the US unemployment rate hit a record of 6.5 percent," Ariston noted.

However, he added money market investors were still awaiting the result of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meting early Thursday that might give a clue about when the Fed would begin to taper bond buying.

Meanwhile, market analyst Ruly Nova of Bank Himpunan Saudara said Bank Indonesia (BI) would always guard a fluctuation in the rupiahs exchange rate through its policies to make the local unit stable.

"That BI will again raise its benchmark interest rate (BI rate) is part of the efforts to stabilize the economy," he said.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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