Rupiah weakens to 12,205 per dollar

JAKARTA. Indonesia’s rupiah fell for a third day as concern President-elect Joko Widodo will face tough parliamentary opposition to his reform agenda spurred the biggest weekly outflow from stocks this year.

Foreign funds pulled $344 million from local shares last week as the benchmark gauge fell 3.6 percent, exchange data show. Samsung Asset Management Ltd. and Nomura Holdings Inc. said last week further declines were likely because of the durability of the coalition that backed losing presidential candidate Prabowo Subianto. The grouping controls more than half of the legislature and succeeded in scrapping direct local elections and appointing a house speaker from its own ranks.

“Foreign investors are paring their expectations for Jokowi and their holdings too,” Dini Agmivia Anggraeni, a fixed-income analyst at PT Maybank Kim Eng Securities, said in Jakarta as quoted by Bloomberg. “The rupiah will remain under pressure due to domestic factors and broad dollar strength.”

The currency declined 0.3 percent to 12,205 per dollar as of 9:30 a.m. in Jakarta, the biggest drop since Sept. 29, prices from local banks show. One-month non-deliverable forwards traded offshore rose 0.1 percent to 12,306, 0.8 percent weaker than the onshore spot rate, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.