BENGALURU: Indonesian equities trimmed early losses to trade flat on Wednesday after the central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady but reduced the reserve requirement ratio in an effort to boost lending.
The Jakarta Composite Index was trading near its last close of 5,278.888 points, compared to a 0.8 percent decline ahead of the decision.
Bank Indonesia kept its main interest rate unchanged for a fourth straight policy review but announced a gradual cut in the reserve requirement ratio to 7 percent from 9 percent and hiked its overnight deposit rate by 25 basis points to 5 percent.
The rupiah slipped back below the key 18,000 level to hold on to its title as the worst-performing Asian currency, down 7.4 percent this year.
Analysts were nearly evenly split before the decision about whether the central bank would hold or raise rates, in a Reuters poll run from October 13 to 19.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI jumped 3.3 percent and Taiwan shares rose 1.3 percent, following a rosier demand outlook for AI from US earnings.
The MSCI gauge of emerging Asia equities rose 1.2 percent.
Singapore shares added 0.8 percent and the Philippine stock market extended gains to a fifth day with a 0.3 percent rise.
The peso, on the other hand, slipped to a record low of 63.302 against the dollar, building the case for the Philippine central bank to tighten policy settings. The Indian rupee jumped to its strongest level in six weeks.
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