Rupiah crosses 14,000 per Singapore dollar for first time

JAKARTA – Indonesian stocks on June 3 slumped to their lowest level in five years as the rupiah reached another record low, underscoring investor concern that persistently high oil prices are straining the country’s finances.

The benchmark Jakarta Composite Index plunged as much as 5.2 per cent before closing down 4.1 per cent. Down about 32 per cent in 2026, the index is already the worst performer of the year among more than 90 global equity indexes tracked by Bloomberg.

The rupiah meanwhile weakened about 0.5 per cent against the US dollar and the Singapore currency, leading losses in Asia, as Brent crude prices advanced for a third day. At 5.24pm in Singapore, the rupiah was trading at 14,001 per Singapore dollar, down about 0.3 per cent from its previous daily close. The Indonesian currency has fallen 8.6 per cent to the Singdollar to date in 2026.

The currency and stock moves come after data on June 2 showed Indonesia’s trade surplus nearly vanished in April as soaring prices for imported oil and gas outpaced export gains. Consumer prices rose 3.08 per cent in May from a year earlier, exceeding the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists and moving further above the midpoint of Bank Indonesia’s target of 1.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent.

The rupiah has depreciated around 7 per cent against the US dollar in 2026, the worst performance among global emerging-market currencies tracked by Bloomberg. The nation’s foreign-exchange reserves fell in April to the lowest in nearly two years as the central bank stepped up intervention to defend the rupiah.

Falling reserves have increased the risk of credit rating downgrades, with Fitch Ratings and Moody’s Ratings already having cut their outlooks in 2026.

Concerns that Indonesia’s credit rating and outlook “might be downgraded due to higher risk of a widening fiscal deficit” are weighing on stocks, said Henry Wibowo, a former JPMorgan Chase strategist who co-founded Alphagate Capital in Jakarta. Weakness in the rupiah, which is approaching the 18,000-per-dollar mark, is also adding to that pressure, he added.

In recent weeks, worries about tighter government control of the key commodities sector have also sapped sentiment. President Prabowo Subianto announced in May the administration would take direct control of exports of some of the most important commodities.

A subgauge of stocks in the basic materials sector plunged nearly 11 per cent on June 3. It slumped almost 23 per cent in May.

Meanwhile, Indonesian prosecutors on June 3 searched the headquarters of the agency that oversees Prabowo’s flagship free meals programme. The search came a day after the leader replaced agency chief Dadan Hindayana and two deputies, citing concerns over food quality control and organisational discipline.

The Jakarta Composite Index has fallen every month in 2026 and is on track for the biggest annual loss since 2008. The sell-off has also seen Indonesia cede its title as South-east Asia’s biggest stock market to Singapore after a five-year reign. Global funds have withdrawn more than US$3.2 billion (S$4.1 billion) from local stocks in 2026. BLOOMBERG