REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- The Indonesian currency rupiah was stronger in the opening of interbank transaction on Friday trading. It was transacted at the level of 14,475 per U.S. dollar gaining 22 points from earlier level of 14,497.

Economist of Samuel Aset Manajemen, Lana Soelistianingsih, said the decision of Bank Indonesia (BI) to maintain its benchmark interest rate "7-Day Reverse Repo Rate" at 6 percent was seen as positive by the market players.

"The policy is an instrument to keep rupiah stability at the same time to attract investment especially portfolio investment to return to th Indonesian stock market," Lana said.

She said the market players also appreciated the confidence of Bank Indonesia that the present interest rate is still consistent with the effort to bring down current account deficit to a safer level and to maintain the attractiveness of the domestic financial assets.