Oil prices extended losses and stocks rallied Wednesday on fresh hopes for an end to the Iran war and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, while Samsung blasted past the $1 trillion valuation mark as the AI tech boom continued apace.

Every dollar increase in the global oil price adds a burden of about Rp 6.8 billion (around $400 million) to the state budget.

The Indonesian economy exceeded expectations in the first quarter as the country posted the strongest gross domestic product growth in years, thanks to a seasonal boost to consumer spending.

A new regulation stated that the protection of outsourced workers, including wages, overtime, social security and severance, is the responsibility of the outsourcing firm, while the principal company's role is to ensure compliance.

Stephanie Sievers, managing director at Philips APAC, said connectivity and remote care models would be key to improving access, as cost and staffing pressures intensify, particularly in geographically dispersed markets, such as Indonesia. 

The construction of the massive seawall project will be divided into 15 segments under a “parallel development” approach, but no launch date has been determined yet.

Fiscal strains are mounting across the region, particularly South Asia, as governments spend billions of dollars on subsidies and import duty waivers to compensate.

Plastic producers say the pressure is most acute upstream, where tight raw material supply and surging prices are driving up costs, forcing manufacturers to absorb them while trying to keep production running.

Experts warn of rising price pressure going forward, as fuel price hikes will only fully reflect in May data.

While manufacturing exports continued to expand, rising 3.96 percent in the first quarter and supported by strong nickel shipments, the gains were not enough to offset declines in mining exports caused by weaker coal shipments.

Pertamina and private fuel retailers BP-AKR and Vivo Energy Indonesia have raised prices for nonsubsidized fuels at all gas stations, effective May 4.

Output declined in April at the fastest pace in nearly a year, with firms pointing to higher input prices, material shortages and weaker purchasing power due to the ongoing US-Israeli war on Iran.

Shares edged higher while oil prices flatlined in Asia on Monday as investors drew comfort from signs of patchy progress in settling the Middle East conflict at the start of a week packed with earnings and key economic data.

Agentic AI are execution models involving autonomous agents that coordinate across workflows, tools and systems with minimal human input.

Industry players have welcomed plans to reinstate purchasing subsidies for electric two-wheelers as the government looks to reduce reliance on imported fossil fuels that have become increasingly costly amid ongoing tension in the Middle East.

Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad said that Danantara has acquired stakes in ride-hailing platforms as the government orders tech firms to cut commissions and expand protections for on-demand drivers under a new regulation.

Saudi Arabia, Russia and five other OPEC+ countries increased their oil production quota on Sunday in an expected move aimed at demonstrating continuity at the cartel after the shock withdrawal of the United Arab Emirates.

The bank’s loan issuance dropped 1.7 percent year-on-year (yoy) to Rp 26.9 trillion (US$1.55 billion) last year, according to its financial report.  

Bankrupt discount carrier Spirit Airlines ceased operations on Saturday, the industry's first casualty linked to the Iran war, after failing to secure creditor support for a US government bailout plan. All flights have been canceled, the statement said, asking passengers not to go to the airport.

Longer-term solutions, such as Bali’s planned waste-to-energy (WtE) facility, are not expected to be completed until November 2027, and undergo a finalization phase before becoming operational in December 2027.  

Prabowo said he signed a presidential regulation which was the basis for the new maximum commission cap that ride-hailing firms could take from their driver partners.

The Industrial Confidence Index (IKI), a monthly gauge of factory activity published by on Wednesday, came in at 51.75 last month, easing from March’s 51.86 but still above the 50 threshold that separates expansion from contraction.

The top US and Chinese economic officials held "candid" talks on Thursday ahead of a meeting set for May between President Donald Trump and President Xi Jinping, with both sides raising complaints about the other's trade policies, the US Treasury and Chinese state media said.

Under a 2020 regulation, all electronic system providers (PSEs) must register in Indonesia for what the government called legal and user protection purposes before making their services available.

Brussels has blacklisted the Karimun oil terminal over its alleged use in Russian oil shipments but says EU sanctions create no obligations for non-EU entities operating outside the Union. 

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell closed out eight years as head of the US central bank on Wednesday with interest rates on hold, rising concern about inflation, and an announcement that he would stay on as a Fed governor for now to defend the agency's independence from Trump administration "battering."

Political analysts and regional experts said the move to leave the groups of oil-producing nations, announced on Tuesday, was more than just a dispute over OPEC oil output quotas that Gulf sources say Abu Dhabi sees as tilted against the UAE.