JAKARTA/SINGAPORE - INDONESIA halted share trading on Wednesday after its main index fell by more than 10 per cent, as South-east Asian stocks tumbled again on fears the spiralling credit crisis will drag the world into a recession.

The head of the Indonesia Stock Exchange told a news conference no decision had been made on when to reopen the market, which had a capitalisation of $135 billion (S$198.3 billion) on Tuesday.

'We will be in talks with the capital market watchdog (Bapepam) and brokers, to discuss when we will open the market,' Mr Erry Firmansyah told reporters.

The Indonesia Composite Index fell by 10.38 per cent to 1,451.67 points, its lowest level since September 2006 before the halt.

The index has fallen more than 20 per cent in just three sessions since Sept 29, with markets closed for a Muslim holiday for four days last week.

'I think the bourse is trying to calm the market by halting trade, which I think is good so investors can become more rational,' Mr John Teja, head of equities sales at Ciptadana Securities in Jakarta said.

'Since we have such a long holiday last week when the other markets went down, Jakarta has some catching up to do.'

Traders also highlighted concerns that the Bakrie group of companies might be forced to sell shares which had been pledged as collateral for loans. A Bakrie executive said there had been no forced share sales.

The exchange suspended trading on Tuesday in shares of six firms controlled by the family of chief social welfare minister Aburizal Bakrie, including coal miner Bumi Resources Tbk and Bakrie & Brothers .

Other regional markets suffered, but less so. Singapore's benchmark index was down 6.6 per cent, Thai stocks shed 6.1 per cent and the Philippine index dropped 4.8 per cent by 0615 GMT.

Trading has been halted or restricted in a number of emerging markets including Russia, Brazil and Pakistan in recent weeks as investors and regulators grapple with worst financial crisis in more than 80 years.

Jakarta's move to suspend trading for an indeterminte period drew some criticism from analysts and traders.

'This is a free market, you must let the free market work,' said Mr Bernard Thien, president director of CIMB-GK Securities Indonesia.

Ms Sara-Jane Wagg, president director of UBS Securities Indonesia in Jakarta said the moves was disappointing and could panic global investors.

Among Indonesian stocks, telecoms firm PT Telekomunikasi Indonesia Tbk , the largest capitalised firm on the exchange fell 9.8 per cent and car distributor PT Astra International Tbk lost a fifth of its value.

In Singapore, Keppel Corp and Singapore Exchange Ltd dropped by around 11 per cent, while Thai energy company PTT Exploration and Production fell 6 per cent.

Russia's MICEX to shut till Friday
In Russia, news agencies reported that Moscow's MICEX stock exchange, where most of Russia's trading takes place, has shut until Friday after opening with steep losses.

The MICEX index dropped more than 14 per cent in the first half-hour of trading on Wednesday.

The RTS exchange, whose index is widely considered the benchmark of Russia's markets, fell around 7 per cent in the first 30 minutes and suspended trading for one hour, the ITAR-Tass, Interfax and RIA-Novosti agencies reported.

The exchanges suffered their worst-ever one-day losses on Monday and ended on Tuesday with minor losses, in a tepid response to President Dmitry Medvedev's announcement of new measures to improve liquidity in the banking system. -- REUTERS, AP