The rupiah fell as much as 2.7 percent to its weakest in more than four months.
KUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's ringgit fell the most in almost a month and Indonesia's rupiah weakened as an escalation of tensions between Iran and Saudi Arabia bolstered demand for the dollar.
The benchmark KLCI and Jakarta stock indexes retreated as Saudi Arabia cut diplomatic ties with Iran after its embassy in Tehran was attacked to protest the Saudis' execution of a prominent Shiite cleric. The ringgit lost ground even as Malaysia's oil export revenues stood to gain from a rise in Brent crude to a three-week high.
"The main currency that gets supported is still the dollar" in times of risk aversion, said Saktiandi Supaat, head of foreign-exchange research at Malayan Banking Bhd
in Singapore. "Oil took a back seat."
The ringgit dropped 1 percent to 4.3360 a dollar as of 1:45 p.m. in Kuala Lumpur, the weakest since Dec. 17, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. The currency lost about 19 percent last year, the worst performance in Asia, as a slump in Brent crude hurt the outlook for Asia's only major net oil exporter.
Exports Drop
The rupiah retreated 0.8 percent to 13,895 a dollar in Jakarta, the biggest decline in three weeks, according to prices from local banks. It sank 10.2 percent in 2015 -- a fifth year of losses and the longest stretch since 1998 -- as exports contracted for a 14th straight month through November amid a slump in commodity prices.
Indonesia, the world's biggest palm oil grower and thermal coal exporter, said it missed its target for economic growth in 2015 because of a global slowdown. The economy expanded 4.73 percent from a year earlier, missing the 5.7 percent target set in the state budget, according to the finance ministry.
"Even if Indonesia announced good growth today, the rupiah will have been down," said Leong Sook Mei, Southeast Asia head of global markets research at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ in Singapore. "It has to do with risk-off with regards to the global tensions."
Ten-year Malaysian government bonds rose, pushing the yield down one basis point to 4.19 percent, according to prices from Bursa Malaysia. The yield on Indonesia's notes slipped two basis points to 8.74 percent. - Bloomberg
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