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Stocks suffer yet another slump
Indonesia's stock market posted a second straight slide Thursday, tailing falls in global bourses amid jitters about the world economy as investors gauge the impact of the recession in the United States, the world's largest economy
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Indonesia's stock market posted a second straight slide Thursday, tailing falls in global bourses amid jitters about the world economy as investors gauge the impact of the recession in the United States, the world's largest economy.
The Jakarta Composite Index dropped by 3.8 percent, or 57.16 points to 1,463.25. Some 1.32 billion shares worth Rp 1.9 trillion (US$193 million) exchanged hands as compared to 1.86 billion shares valued at Rp 2.7 trillion on Wednesday.
Traders said the index's slump was also attributable to the decline in the rupiah against the U.S. dollar by 0.9 percent to 9,865.
Asian markets were battered Thursday, with Tokyo suffering its worst loss in 21 years, as traders were spooked by renewed fears of a global recession as reported by AFP.
Investors took their lead from Wall Street, which suffered its worst ever points fall Wednesday; the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 7.87 percent to close at 8,577.91, Standard & Poor's dipped 9.03 percent to 907.84, and Nasdaq dropped 8.47 percent to 1,628.33.
Japan's Nikkei plummeted 11.41 percent on Thursday to 8,458.45, the benchmark's second-largest percentage loss ever and the steepest fall since the "Black Monday" crash in October 1987, according to AFP.
Japan is on the verge of a recession, with the government and lawmakers passing a US$18 billion package to stimulate the economy, while the central bank injected $6 billion into the short-term money market to try to keep credit flowing, AFP reported.
Seoul's KOSPI shed 9.4 percent, Hong Kong 5 percent, Singapore 5.25 percent and Taipei 3.25 percent.
Indonesian Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati will appoint new officials in the Capital Market and Financial Institution Supervisory Agency (Bapepam-LK), in a bid to shore up market confidence, a source at the ministry said.
Sardjito, Bapepam's head of investigation and inspection for real sector companies, will be placed in a determining position as the agency's bureau head of inspection and investigation. He replaces Wahyu Hidayat, now the deputy chairman of the Financial Transaction Reports Analysis Center (PPATK).
The post is considered the lifeline of the agency because it deals primarily with cracking down on recalcitrant companies in the stock market, ensuring supervision and trust are in place.
Bapepam has been widely criticized as being too lenient in handling violations committed by big companies in the stock market, especially in enforcing transparency and disclosure principles.
Bapepam chairman Fuad Rahmani recently threw out allegations that the Bakrie group of companies withheld crucial information that could affect the movement of their shares, despite making no prior inspection.
The group's obscure disclosure of its debt arrangements has been widely blamed for the recent crash in the stock market that has forced the authorities to suspend trading in shares of in six Bakrie companies to ease losses to other investors and companies.
