Indonesia central bank says rupiah's weakness is due to normal fluctuation

[JAKARTA] Indonesia's central bank said the recent weakness in the rupiah, hitting a new 17-year low on Thursday, was due to external sentiment and was considered a normal fluctuation.

The rupiah eased as much as 0.2 per cent to 13,395 per dollar, its weakest since August 1998, as the dollar rose on strong US home resales data. "This is still a normal fluctuation. There's no significant change in domestic market, the movement is all because of external sentiments," said Bank Indonesia's spokesman Peter Jacobs.

Mr Jacobs said the central bank is always in the foreign exchange market to smoothen out volatility.

REUTERS