TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - After strengthening early in the week, the rupiah was corrected again yesterday along with other Asian currencies; eroded by the greenback rebound. In the money market, the rupiah lost 54 points (0.44 percent) to close down at 12,222 per US dollar.

Platon Niaga Berjangka analyst Lukman Leong said the greenback was dominant in the currency market after suffering corrections since last weekend. The two-day correction was used by forex investors to buy the dollar at its bottom price.

"As a result, the rupiah and developing markets' currencies depreciated," he said yesterday.

With no sign of economic recoveries in Europe and China, the demand for US dollar is expected to continue to rise, motivating investors to profit from every correction to accumulate in a long period of time.

Internally, investors are still waiting for the results of Bank Indonesia's board of governors meeting, to see how the central bank would react to the threat of inflation after the government raises the price of subsidized fuel.

"The fuel price hike created expectations of an increased BI Rate," said Lukman.

For today, Lukman estimated the rupiah to in the range of 12,200 per US dollar, with a risk of weakening to 12,300 per US dollar.

PDAT | M. AZHAR