April Deflation and Orderly May Day Demonstrations Support Indonesia's IHSG
The release of Indonesia's April deflation figure (0.10%) and orderly May Day demonstrations provided a good environment for investors to continue purchasing Indonesian stocks (despite uncertainty about Indonesia's subsidized fuel policy. Moreover, positive Asian stock indices - in combination with positive European openings on Wednesday - made the Indonesia Stock Index (IHSG) rise to a new record level of 5,060.92 points on Wednesday (01/05/13), a 0.53 percent gain.
The IDR rupiah continued its restricted fall as investors were concerned that the May Day demonstrations would result in violence. Those concerns were ungrounded but the demonstrations did heavily disturb Jakarta's traffic. The rupiah's movement on Wednesday was limited as a number of stock exchanges and other financial institutions were closed, and because Indonesia's deflation in April reduces changes that Bank Indonesia will raise its benchmark interest rate (despite increases in electricity and toll road tickets prices). The weakening US dollar, ahead of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, also meant that the rupiah's decline was limited.
| Source: Bank IndonesiaChina's stock index weakened as a number of companies presented performance results that did not meet investors' expectation (such as Alps Electric Co or Tokyo Electron Ltd). Speculation emerged that a number of Asia's central banks will not raise interest rates as inflation figures of South Korea, Thailand and Indonesia were well-received. China's Manufacturing PMI went from 50.9 to 50.6 in April.
‹ Back to Indonesia Stock Exchange