JAKARTA, Nov 21 (Reuters) - Indonesia's central bank on Tuesday sold $236.5 million worth of new securities denominated in U.S. dollars, higher than the target of $200 million, it said in a statement, a move aimed at attracting capital inflows.
In the first such auction, Bank Indonesia (BI) offered 1-month and 3-month certificates with the biggest allocation going to the 1-month certificate at $168 million, with an average yield of 5.44863%.
Edi Susianto, BI's head of monetary management, said the auction showed "quite good" interest from the investors with incoming bids exceeding the target at $266.5 million.
BI will hold another auction for the instruments on Nov.28 and Nov.29, Edi said.
Previously, BI said the instruments, including an Islamic finance version, are aimed not only at managing any excess U.S. dollar liquidity in domestic banks, but to also bringing capital inflows through non-resident purchases in the secondary market.
The currency, like others in the region, has been recovering against the U.S. dollar after the Federal Reserve decided to hold its key interest rate at its last meeting after months of monetary tightening.
The rupiah last traded at 15,435 or strengthened 0.03% against U.S. dollar on Tuesday. (Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor)
