(Illustration: Thejakartapost.com/Wienda Parwitasari)

The rupiah made an insignificant 0.02 percent gain and ended relatively flat on Tuesday at Rp 13,746 per US dollar, while the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) breached the next psychological level after jumping 1.32 percent or 58.76 points to 4,500.94.

An analyst and researcher at PT Monex Investindo Futures, Agus Chandra, said money traders were not impressed with November'€™s BI rate, as the central bank decided to keep the key interest rate at 7.5 percent. They therefore remained neutral over the rupiah.

"BI is maintaining the rate at least until next month. A better chance for an increase will appear if the US Federal Reserve increases its rate in December," he said as quoted by kontan.co.id in Jakarta on Tuesday.

As for tomorrow, Agus further said that traders would focus on US inflation data as they expect the US consumer price index to rise to 0.2 percent, compared to October 2014'€™s deflation of 0.2 percent.

If their speculation turns out to be correct, there will be a better opportunity for the US central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate.

Meanwhile, Indonesia Stock Market (IDX) data showed that 3.5 billion shares changed hands during Tuesday'€™s trading worth Rp 4.19 trillion ($ 304.85 million), with 164 stocks strengthening, 103 weakening and 79 remaining unchanged.

Nine of 10 sectoral indexes gained, led by the infrastructure sector index, which strengthened by 2.81 percent, while the miscellaneous industry index dropped 1.29 percent. Foreign investors recorded net sales of Rp 168.56 billion.

Tuesday's market rally was backed by positive local market news, such as October'€™s $1.01 billion trade surplus.

The regional market'€™s positive movement also supported JCI's rally as the MSCI Asia Pacific Index closed 1.1 percent higher. (ags)

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