Indonesia’s rupiah fell the most this month, snapping two days of gains, amid speculation importers will step up dollar purchases to settle month-end bills. Government bonds rose for a sixth day. The rupiah earlier touched a one-week high as exchange data show global funds bought $95 million more Indonesian equities than they sold this week through yesterday. Investors also added to their holdings of government debt for the first time in a week on Dec. 20 after Fitch Ratings on Dec. 15 raised the nation’s long-term foreign and local-currency debt to BBB-, its lowest investment grade. “Importer demand for the dollar could be a factor that will limit the upside for the rupiah,� said Dariusz Kowalczyk, a Hong Kong-based senior strategist at Credit Agricole CIB. “ ‘‘The credit-rating upgrade is a fantastic thing in the long run for the rupiah and it will boost demand for their bonds and portfolio investment.’’ The rupiah slumped 0.8 percent, the most since Nov. 28, to 9,140 per dollar as of 3:38 p.m. in Jakarta, taking this week’s loss to 1.2 percent, according to prices from local banks compiled by Bloomberg. The currency, which touched 9,013 earlier, the strongest level since Dec. 16, may rise toward 9,000 before the year-end, Kowalczyk said. The yield on the 8.25 percent debt due July 2021 dropped eight basis points, or 0.08 percentage point, to 6.0331 today, according to midday prices from the Inter Dealer Market Association. The rate fell 25 basis points from a week ago, the most in three weeks. Foreign ownership of the government’s debt rose to 221.8 trillion rupiah ($24.5 billion) from 221.5 trillion rupiah the previous day, according to data from the ministry of finance. To contact the reporter on this story: Yumi Teso in Bangkok at yteso1@bloomberg.net To contact the editor responsible for this story: Sandy Hendry at shendry@bloomberg.net

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