JAKARTA: Indonesia’s rupiah dropped the most in eight months before European leaders meet today, as escalating concern that Greece will exit the euro damped demand for emerging-market assets. Government bonds advanced.
The Finance Ministry raised 550 billion rupiah or US$58.7 million from an auction of Islamic securities yesterday, short of its 1 trillion rupiah target, according to the debt management office. A withdrawal from the single-European currency would be catastrophic for Greece, former Prime Minister Lucas Papademos told the Wall Street Journal yesterday.
“The rupiah is headed lower in line with regional currencies due to global risk-off sentiment,” said Artanavaro Gasali, the head of global markets at PT Bank ICBC Indonesia in Jakarta. “We do not expect the summit to produce significant results.”
The rupiah weakened 1.3% to 9,350 per dollar as of 9:30 a.m. in Jakarta, the biggest decline since September 26, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. One- month implied volatility, which measures exchange-rate swings used to price options, held at 10%.
The Jakarta Composite Index of shares has lost 4.3% in May as global investors sold $449 million more Indonesian stocks than they bought, exchange data show.
European Union President Herman Van Rompuy said the region’s debt crisis will only be discussed at the very end of the 27-nation summit starting in Brussels today.
The yield on the Indonesian government’s benchmark 10-year bonds dropped five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 6.44%, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. (Bloomberg/T03)
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