The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) concluded this year’s trading on Friday while basking in the glow of achievements made throughout the year, including the high number of initial public offerings (IPOs) and record high daily transactions.

On the last trading day of 2018 on Friday, the Jakarta Composite Index (JCI), the gauge of the IDX, closed at 6,194.49 or 3.85 points higher than the previous close.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo, who attended the close on Friday, expressed appreciation for the performance of the IDX throughout the year, which stayed above 6,000 despite global uncertainty.

“The global economy was very dynamic and unpredictable, making capital markets around the world volatile. That also affected our stock market,” said Jokowi, who added he appreciated the resilience of the stock market.

Jokowi said the JCI recorded the second best growth in the world after India despite external pressures.

IDX president director Inarno Djajadi said throughout the year the stock market recorded the highest number of IPOs since the bourse was privatized in 1992, with 57 newly listed companies raising Rp 16 trillion (US$1.1 billion).

As of Thursday, the IDX’s average daily transaction value also hit a record high of Rp 8.5 trillion. Its average transaction frequency also hit its highest number of 386,696 this year, surpassing Thailand as the highest frequency in Asia.

This year’s record-breaking performances led Financial Services Authority chairman Wimboh Santoso to be optimistic for the index’s performance in 2019.

“I hope the JCI will reach 6,500 to 7,000 next year,” he said.

Responding to the JCI’s performance, Binaartha Parama Sekuritas analyst M. Nafan Aji said domestic investors had succeeded in boosting the index after its sharp decline following the United States’ remarkable economic growth and the Federal Reserve’s rate hikes in the first half.

“Local investors’ have had a bigger role this year, that’s why we were able to recover from such a hard hit earlier this year,” he said, adding that the index was now moving toward a bullish consolidation period following a bearish period in mid-2018.

IDX data shows the number of domestic stock investors increased 35 percent to 851,000 in 2018.

Data from the Indonesian Central Securities Depository also shows 54.71 percent of shares in the stock market were held by domestic investors as of Dec. 26, signaling that local investors’ role in the IDX was increasing.

Nafan said the increasing number of domestic investors helped the JCI regain its strength after foreign investors rushed to take their money out of the bourse, following the US’ rapid GDP growth, the 10-year treasury yield increase and the Fed’s rate hikes earlier this year.

As a result, the rupiah’s value against the US dollar depreciated and the current account deficit widened, with the JCI plummeting from its all-time high of 6,689 in February to its low of 5,633 only five months later.

The index has strengthened gradually from July through the end of the year, where the JCI recorded a 2.54 percent decrease this year after it closed at 6,194 on Friday.

Nafan also said the size of local investment during the year was the result of Bank Indonesia’s effort to counter the impact of the strengthening greenback by increasing its policy rate in line with the federal funds rate hike.

The government also issued several regulations to deter imports to help reduce the deficit.

Aside from showing a bullish performance toward the end of the year, the IDX also implemented a new regulation that shortens the settlement period from three days to two days to increase liquidity in the stock market.

It also launched a new regulation where the IDX stamped special notations to “problematic” listed companies to protect investors.