The Indonesian rupiah eased on Thursday after the main opposition party failed to score enough votes in a parliamentary election to nominate its popular candidate for a presidential poll in July without support from other parties, raising chances of political uncertainty in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Most emerging Asian currencies gave up earlier gains or turned weaker as China's exports unexpectedly fell for the second straight month in March, fuelling worries about slowing growth in the world's second-largest economy.
The Indonesian currency fell 0.6 percent to 11,350 per dollar as of 0445 GMT, as foreign and local banks took profits, and Jakarta shares lost more than 3 percent. Investors had been expecting Jokowi to have a smooth run at the presidency, but his party will need to form alliances in order to reach the required threshold for him to contest the vote. Final results from the parliamentary poll are not expected to be announced until May 7.
"If Joko has to form a coalition, the mandate for reform may soften," said Jonathan Cavenagh, senior FX strategist with Westpac in Singapore, adding the rupiah's one-month non-deliverable forwards (NDFs) might weaken to 11,600 per dollar. The NDFs eased 0.4 percent to 11,405. The South Korean won rose nearly 1 percent to 1,031.4 per dollar, its strongest since August 2008, as offshore funds continued to buy the currency.
The peso advanced as much as 0.6 percent to 44.46 against the dollar, its strongest since March 11, as exports in February rose to a more than three-year high.