BENGALURU: Jakarta stocks hit their lowest level in about eight months on Thursday, led by a slump in top Indonesian lender Bank Mandiri following weak earnings, while the Thai baht was subdued after local headline inflation picked up in January.
Indonesia’s benchmark stocks index, which has lost close to 3% since the start of 2025, fell up to 2.1% to its lowest since June 26.
Benchmark heavyweight Bank Mandiri fell as much as 1.8% to its lowest since June 2023, while Bank Raya Indonesia fell around 3%.
Bank Mandiri, which has a market capitalization of $31.24 billion, reported about 14% year-over-year decline in fourth-quarter profit. The company reported higher interest and operating expenses for the quarter.
“Bank Mandiri’s deposit growth might not be able to catch up to its rapid credit growth (in 2025), thus forcing the bank to push up lending yields to bolster its liquidity conditions,” analysts at Bahana Sekuritas said in a note.
Indonesia also reported tepid consumption and a slowdown in the pace of economic growth on Wednesday, thus prompting the market to expect an interest rate cut from the local central bank later this month.
The rupiah was 0.3% lower against the US dollar.
Currency markets were mostly muted in emerging Asia, with the Singapore dollar trading 0.2% lower while its Taiwanese counterpart was little unchanged.
The Philippine peso and Indian rupee were trading 0.4% and 0.1% lower, respectively.
Among other stock markets, Bangkok shares fell up to 0.6% after the country’s headline inflation for January picked up but remained within the central bank’s target range for the second straight month.
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