By Stefanno Sulaiman
JAKARTA (Reuters) -Indonesia’s stock market dropped 9% in early trade on Tuesday, triggering a 30-minute trading halt, and the rupiah fell 1.8% to a record low as markets reopened after an extended holiday break and reacted to the global market turmoil caused by U.S. tariffs.
The main index fell 9.2% to its lowest since June 2021 in early deals, while the rupiah dropped to 16,850 per dollar, going past its Asian Financial Crisis trough to its lowest on record, according to LSEG data.
Ahead of the market opening, the bourse said a fall of 8% would trigger a 30-minute suspension in trading, changed from 5% previously. If the market then extended losses to 15%, there would be another 30-minute pause in trading.
A fall of more than 20% in the main index would see trading suspended for the rest of the day, which the bourse said would allow investors “liquidity space and opportunity” to digest and process information.
The stock exchange also said that if an individual share fell by 15%, sell orders below that price would be automatically rejected.
“These are taken in anticipation of market conditions. We do not want to create panic, but we want domestic and foreign investors to have confidence that we give them enough room to transact after more than a week of break,” IDX chief executive Iman Rachman told a press conference.
Trading rules could be adjusted back when conditions return to normal, IDX executive Jeffrey Hendrik said.
Indonesian markets reopened on Tuesday for the first time since the close on March 27, and are catching up with global market moves following the U.S. tariff announcement last week, which included a plan for 32% tariff on Indonesian products.
(Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman; Editing by John Mair)
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