The case of rupiah jitters for Indonesia's foreign bond investors

Singapore

FOREIGN portfolio investors are showing signs of losing faith in Indonesia's ability to support the rupiah, going by their lacklustre interest in the latest government debt auction.

At Tuesday's auction of bonds ranging in maturity from three months to 19 years, foreign investors picked up just about 10 per cent of the 10 trillion rupiah (S$1.05 million) worth of total issuance, analysts at Maybank estimated.

That indicates a sharp drop in foreign appetite, given offshore investors bought bonds at a vigorous pace in the first two months of 2015. According to ANZ, they picked up 45.7 trillion rupiah worth of bonds via auctions and secondary market purchases, which amo…