Indonesia central bank intervenes to defend rupiah: official

[JAKARTA] Bank Indonesia has intervened in the spot and domestic non-deliverable forward markets to defend the rupiah, which fell in early Thursday trade, an official said, calling the decline in Asian currencies a "knee jerk reaction" to US monetary policy.

Nanang Hendarsah, the central bank's head of monetary management, told Reuters BI "stands ready to stabilise the sovereign bond market" in case yields jump, though he said he had not seen large foreign selling yet.

The rupiah depreciated 0.4 per cent to 14,490 per dollar as of 0335 GMT after the Federal Reserve raised U.S. interest rates and signalled for two more increases in 2019. Hendarsah said the market had expected the Fed to announce only one more hike next year.

BI is due to conclude a two-day meeting later on Thursday and announce its interest rate policy.

REUTERS