Indonesia stock market falls 9%, rupiah drops to record low

Indonesia's stock market slumped 9% early yesterday, prompting a 30-minute trading halt, while the rupiah fell 1.1% on record low market reopenend after an extended holiday break and reacted to the global market turmoil caused by US tariffs.

- STEFANO SULAIMAN

The main trading index was in its lowest since late 2021 in early trade. After the trading halt was lifted, the Index recouped some of its losses and was down 8.5% at 10 am in Thailand.

The rupiah fell to as low as 16,850 per dollar, surpassing its Asian Financial Crisis trough to its weakest on record, according to ISEG data.

The central bank has and will continue to "intervene aggressively" in the foreign exchange, domestic non-deliverable forwards (NDF) and bond markets, as well as in the offshore NDF market, to stabilise the rupiah, Fitra Faisal, a Bank Indonesia official said.

However, some analysts predict further declines, even as the stock exchange modifies trading rules to prevent selloffs.

Ahead of yesterday's market opening, the stock exchange tightened auto-rejection rules for transactions. Now, if a stock falls 15% in a session, actions would be automatically rejected, compared with the previous trigger of a share price fall of between 20% and 35%.