SINGAPORE: The Indonesian rupiah shed its earlier gains in volatile trading ahead of an announcement to declare the winner of the country's closely fought presidential election.
The likely loser, former general Prabowo Subianto, refusing to concede defeat, made a last-gasp attempt to delay the announcement of the official results due on Tuesday.
An official from his party, however, later said Prabowo has withdrawn his presidential candidacy after denouncing the election process as undemocratic.
It was not clear how Prabowo's actions would affect the announcement by the Elections Commission later on Tuesday on the outcome of the July 9 election.
After rising to as high as around 11,505 versus the dollar earlier in the day, the rupiah later gave up all of its gains and last stood at 11,590 versus the dollar, down 0.2 percent on the day.
The Elections Commission is expected to declare Jakarta Governor Joko "Jokowi" Widodo as the nation's next leader.
The rupiah has been supported in recent weeks as investors bet on a win for the Jakarta governor, who is perceived as more business-friendly than Prabowo.
Sacha Tihanyi, senior currency strategist for Scotiabank in Hong Kong, said that with a win by Jokowi having been priced in by the market, the focus will eventually shift to policy measures from him.
"We need to see fundamental steps from Widodo to become more bullish IDR," Tihanyi said.
"Subsidy reform is likely to be pushed to next year if his words are any indication, and so the market will look at what he can provide in the interim," he added.
Elsewhere, Asian currencies were mostly steady to firmer, with market participants saying they seemed to be benefiting from investor interest for relatively high-yielding assets, despite lingering worries about geopolitical risks.
The Thai baht rose to as high as 31.79 versus the dollar at one point on Tuesday, its strongest level since last November.
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