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Indonesian stocks conclude ‘year of retail investor’ on bearish note
Over the full year of 2020, the JCI lost 5.09 percent despite gaining 21.18 percent in the last three months.
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Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto (second left) pushes the trading bell while Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Wimboh Santoso (second right), OJK chief executive of capital market supervision Hoesen (left) and Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) president director Inarno Djajadi stand at a safe distance during the bourse's last trading day closing ceremony in Jakarta on Wednesday in this screen grab from the IDX YouTube channel. (Courtesy of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX)/-)
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ndonesian stocks concluded 2020 trading in the red despite large gains recorded in the last months, with the usual celebration toned down due to the raging coronavirus pandemic.
Unlike the previous years, Coordinating Economic Affairs Minister Airlangga Hartarto had to push the trading bell by himself on Wednesday, while Financial Services Authority (OJK) chairman Wimboh Santoso, OJK chief executive of capital market supervision Hoesen and Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) president director Inarno Djajadi stood beside the minister at a safe distance.
In the past years, the high-ranking officials would put their hands together on the bell while smiling to the press and to an audience of hundreds attending the ceremony in the bourse’s main hall.
Other government officials, including Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati, Public Works and Housing Minister Basuki Hadimuljono and Deputy Trade Minister Jerry Sambuaga, had to attend the ceremony virtually in an effort to curb the spread of a virus that has infected more than 735,000 people in the country.
“For the first time, this regular annual ceremony is conducted virtually amid the COVID-19 pandemic,” Inarno said in his remarks.
The pandemic fears have hit the local bourse hard, with the Jakarta Composite Index crashing to its lowest level since 2012 in March as investors dumped risky assets and turned to safe haven ones.
