The rupiah has fallen to its weakest level since Indonesia was embroiled in the Asian financial crisis in 1998. The benchmark Jakarta Composite Index dropped 3.76% at the close, the biggest one-day slide since November 2016. The gauge is down 19% in dollar terms for the year so far, factoring in the slump in the rupiah against the US currency. Bank Indonesia might not wait to act on rates until the policy meeting scheduled for Sept 27, according to some analysts. “An off-cycle BI rate hike is possible to support the rupiah,” said Maximillian Lin, an emerging-markets Asia strategist at NatWest Markets in Singapore.

Source: Bangkok Post September 05, 2018 13:30 UTC