(May 21): Indonesian markets were under pressure on Thursday as policy concerns surrounding the government’s commodity control measures dogged the rupiah and stocks, even as Asian tech shares rode a wave of optimism after Nvidia’s upbeat outlook and Samsung’s tentative union deal.
The Indonesian rupiah weakened to 17,640 per dollar, remaining one of the worst-performing currencies in emerging Asia, with a decline of 5.5% in 2026 so far. The currency’s underperformance this year prompted the central bank to deliver an outsized interest rate hike on Wednesday.
Jakarta stocks fell nearly 4%, hovering near a more than one-year low after shedding 15% over the past eight sessions, as concerns persisted around fiscal discipline, central bank independence and stock market transparency.
Indonesia’s energy sub-index clocked a fifth day of losses, falling over 6%.
Declines in utilities firm Barito Renewables and chemicals maker Chandra Asri Pacific weighed on the index. Both were among the six companies removed from MSCI’s domestic global standard index recently.
The government has announced plans to tighten state control over Indonesia’s vast natural resources, covering key exports such as palm oil and thermal coal, overseen by the sovereign wealth fund Danantara Indonesia.
Danantara’s chief executive said it would honour existing export contracts, but planned to review them to ensure prices aligned with market levels.
A review would mean higher prices compared to global benchmarks, which could potentially reduce the competitiveness of some commodities, which would prove to be a downside for some companies, said Fadhlan Banny, an equity research associate at Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia.
Foreign investors had sold about US$2.31 billion (RM9.2 billion) worth of Indonesian stocks so far this year, compared with a net selling of US$1.03 billion in 2025, data from the Indonesian stock exchange website showed.
South Korean and Taiwanese shares rallied after Nvidia projected a forecast-beating outlook, with CEO Jensen Huang reassuring investors about sustained demand for its flagship AI chips.
The two tech-heavy markets account for about 40% of the MSCI’s EM Asia equities gauge, which rose about 3% in its biggest single-day gain in over two weeks.
South Korean shares jumped more than 8%, boosted by an 8.5% climb in Samsung Electronics after the chipmaker reached a tentative union pay deal, averting an 18-day strike that threatened both the domestic economy and global chip supply chains.
Taiwan stocks rose around 3.4%, snapping a four-day losing streak.
Shares in Manila climbed 0.5%, helped by a 2.8% rise in Bank of Philippine Islands after it announced a cash dividend.
The dollar index hovered below a six-week peak, putting pressure on Asian currencies such as the South Korean won and the Thai baht. Both currencies slipped between 0.3% and 0.6%.
The Indian rupee rose about 0.5% at 96.4 per dollar, shored up by likely dollar selling intervention by the Reserve Bank of India, after losing nearly 3% over the last nine sessions.
Uploaded by Magessan Varatharaja
