The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) plunged by 5.01 percent, the lowest since March, to 4,891.46 on market closing against the previous trading day.
he Indonesian stock market will not repeat the market crash in March, despite the continuous pressure by COVID-19 that led the market to see a steep fall on Thursday, following the Jakarta administration’s decision to retighten restrictions, analysts have said.
The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI), the main gauge of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX), plunged by 5.01 percent, the lowest since March, to 4,891.46 on market closing against the previous trading day. Earlier in the day, a sharp 5 percent drop triggered the stock market circuit breaker at 10.36 a.m., resulting in a 30-minute trading halt.
Panic selling followed Jakarta Governor Anies Baswedan’s announcement on Wednesday that large scale social restrictions (PSBB) would be reinstated due to the continuous increase in COVID-19 cases. The country saw another record-breaking number of daily cases on Thursday, rounding the total tally to 207,203.
In total, foreign investors dumped Rp 663 billion (US$44.7 million) in stocks to exceed stocks purchases on Thursday, bringing the foreign net sell to Rp 33.6 trillion to date.
“We still maintain our end-of-year 2020 JCI target of 5,400,” Mirae Asset Sekuritas Indonesia head of research Hariyanto Wijaya told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.
However, he added that the return of PSBB measures would put pressure on JCI throughout September, mostly driven by investors’ fears on the impacts of a prolonged lockdown and COVID-19 on banks, especially non-performing loan (NPL) rates and asset quality.
Banking stocks suffered a deep fall on Thursday, with Indonesia’s largest private bank, Bank Central Asia (BCA), suffering the worst from the selling spree and falling by 6.97 percent on closing, while state-owned Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) stocks fell by 6.74 percent.
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