Jakarta - Indonesia's stock exchange continued to suspend trading in the afternoon session Friday, extending a trading suspension to two consecutive days amid sharp falls on global markets. The Indonesian Stock Exchange said in a press release that Friday's afternoon trading had been suspended. Hours earlier, the exchange announced that its morning session was also suspended due to the indices' sharp declines at bourses across the world.
Erry Firmansyah, the market president, told the Elshinta private radio programme that it was "impossible for us to resume trading" after Friday's plunges on Asian markets as well as steep losses on Wall Street overnight.
"The decision to extend trading suspension was to protect investors and prevent further sharp falls," Firmansyah said.
The Indonesian stock exchange suspended trading on Wednesday after the benchmark index fell more than 10 per cent to 1,451.669, extending three-day losses to 21 per cent.
On Thursday, the government eased accounting rules on the fair value of assets, while easing reserve requirements for commercial banks and making it easier for listed firms to buy back to bolster financial markets.
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono early this week expressed confidence that Indonesia, which suffered a devastating financial meltdown in the 1997-1998 Asian financial crisis, could overcome the global market crisis because the country has strong economic foundations.
On Friday, Yudhonoyo asked Indonesians to remain calm in the face of stock and finance market crises.
"We have to remain calm, rational and collected while we try to prevent the (global) crisis from affecting the Indonesian economy," he was quoted as saying by The Jakarta Post website.
Although the world and Indonesia were going through a crisis in stock and finance markets, he said, it was too soon to say the overall Indonesian economy was in crisis.
