Indonesia central bank says intervening to steady the rupiah

[JAKARTA] Bank Indonesia (BI) was intervening in spot foreign currency trading as well as domestic non-deliverable forward and bond markets on Monday to stabilise the rupiah currency, which fell by 0.4 per cent to the weakest since mid-January, an official said.

"BI is making sure of rupiah's stability," Nanang Hendarsah, the central bank's head of monetary management, told Reuters by text message.

"BI is boldly buying bonds in the secondary market and is offering DNDF (domestic non-deliverable forward) through 8 brokers," he said, adding that intervention was also done in a measured way in the spot FX market.

Mr Hendarsah attributed the rupiah's fall to touch 13,718 a US dollar in early Monday trading to a drop in China's equity market, which plunged amid a rapidly spreading virus epidemic.

Reuters