Indonesia’s rupiah dropped to a record low and the stock market was headed for its biggest one-day drop in over 13 years, as markets resumed trading after an extended holiday break, during which trade war jitters caused a global market rout.
Jakarta stocks were last down 7.8%, on course to post their worst trading session since September 2011.
The benchmark index had dropped more than 9% in early trading, triggering a 30-minute halt.
The rupiah fell as much as 1.8% to an all-time low of 16,850 against the US dollar.
An official at Bank Indonesia said the central bank would continue to “intervene aggressively” in the spot foreign exchange, domestic non-deliverable forward (NDF) and bond markets to stabilise the rupiah.
Indonesian markets reopened on Tuesday for the first time since closing on March 27 during which time US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcements have roiled global markets.
The tariffs on Southeast Asian countries have especially higher rates including 32% tariff on Indonesian goods.
“The IDR weakness is just playing catch-up to the recent declines seen in other Asian currencies but there is also a bit of a restraint to some extent partly because of the little bit of a developing stability in the RMB and a softer dollar,” said Christopher Wong, a currency strategist at OCBC, referring to the rupiah and Chinese yuan.
Indonesian rupiah stalks record low as fiscal worries rattle investors
“Even though IDR is considered a more domestic currency and typically should be less affected … with the trade wars, the slightly softer fundamentals including fiscal worries, unexpected current account deficit and an economic soft patch may still weigh on the currency.”
Other regional stock markets were broadly lower as the escalating tariff war showed few signs of dying down, keeping investors on edge.
Trump said he would further increase duties on China in response to the latter’s decision to match the 34% duties he unveiled last week.
Taiwan’s benchmark stock index, which logged its worst fall ever on Monday, fell another 5.1%. Vietnam stocks slumped 6.3%.
Thailand stocks dropped 5.5% to a five-year low, and Singapore stocks slipped 1.7% in their seventh session of decline, having lost about S$72 billion ($53.41 billion) in value since the March 28 close.
Meanwhile, policymakers across the region have been preparing measures to support financial markets, with Chinese efforts leading Shanghai stocks to rise 0.9%.
Currencies were mixed against a broadly weaker greenback.
The Thai baht weakened to a near three-month low, while the Singapore dollar and Philippine peso rose 0.4% and 0.3% respectively.
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