Asia’s Last Holdout Against Strong Dollar Falls

An employee handles Indonesian 50,000 rupiah banknotes at a PT Ayu Masagung currency exchange in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Tuesday, Aug. 18, 2020. (Photographer: Dimas Ardian/Bloomberg)

(Bloomberg) -- Asia's last currency standing against the dollar this year has fallen, with the rupiah joining regional peers to erase gains against the strengthening greenback.

The rupiah dropped as much as 0.4% against the dollar on Tuesday, losing all its gains after rallying over 6% in the first four months of the year. All other Asian currencies are already in red against their US peer, which has advanced in the past 10 out of 11 weeks.

“Higher US yields and stronger dollar have been the key driver of the rupiah's recent weakness,” said Vijay Kannan, a macro strategist at Societe Generale SA in Singapore. “This should continue to be a headwind for bond flows and the rupiah.”

While most emerging Asia benchmark rates are at or near their terminal levels, the Federal Reserve may hike even more. The rupiah has not been immune to the Fed's higher-for-longer mantra. It has been weakened by capital outflows, as a narrowing yield differential with the US sapped the appeal of rupiah bonds. Indonesia's policy rate is offering only a 25 basis point premium over the upper bound of the Fed fund target rate.

Overseas investors pulled out $1.1 billion from the nation's bonds in September, the largest outflow in a year. As a result, Indonesia's 10-year government yield has climbed above the 7% psychological threshold.

Bank Indonesia has so far not signaled further rate increases but turned to other monetary tools to lure global bond flows. It introduced the so-called SRBI bills in September, which haven't yet proven effective in curbing the rupiah's losses.

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