RUPIAH TENDS TO BE STABLE

Jakarta, Feb. 2 (ANTARA) - The rupiah tended to be stable in the Jakarta interbank spot market here on Tuesday morning as investors were cautious following Greece's economic problem which were pressuring the euro.

The Indonesian currency traded Rp9,375-Rp9,380 per US dollar, down five points from Rp9,380-Rp9,390 at the market's close a day earlier.

Edwin Sinaga, a domestic money market analyst, said here on Tuesday the Greek budget deficit problem was not expected to drag on too long.

He predicted that the rupiah would move upward again in the afternoon trading session.

Bank Indonesia (BI, the country's central bank) was expected to intervene in the domestic money market if the local unit continued to weaken against the US dollar, Edwin Sinaga, concurrently president director of PT Finan Corpindo Nusa, said.

Reuters reported that the European Commission is due to publish recommendations on Wednesday on Greece's austerity plan to slash a double-digit budget deficit and restore investor confidence after the country took a pounding in the markets for weeks.

Greece's financial problems have also sparked fears of a spill-over effect on other weak, heavily-indebted countries in the euro zone, and talk about a possible bailout by the EU -- although Germany's finance minister said on Monday Athens must correct its past mistakes itself.