JCI Weakens Amid MSCI Sentiment on Continued Freeze of Indonesian Stock Rebalancing
Jakarta (ANTARA) - The Composite Stock Price Index (JCI) of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (BEI) closed lower on Tuesday afternoon, triggered by negative sentiment from MSCI’s announcement that it will continue to freeze the rebalancing of the Indonesian stock index for the period ending May 2026.
The JCI closed down 34.73 points or 0.46 percent at 7,559.38.
Meanwhile, the LQ45 index of 45 leading stocks fell 12.18 points or 1.61 percent to 743.67.
“Negative sentiment mainly stems from MSCI’s announcement that it will continue to freeze the rebalancing of the Indonesian stock index for the period ending May 2026,” said Ratna Lim, Head of Research at Phintraco Sekuritas, in her analysis in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Domestically, based on its announcement on Monday (20/4/2026), MSCI has acknowledged the efforts of authorities in advancing the agenda of market transparency reforms in Indonesia’s capital markets.
However, MSCI will still evaluate the consistency and effectiveness of the new policies, particularly improvements in share ownership data transparency and plans to raise the minimum free float threshold to 15 percent.
Additionally, investors are anticipating MSCI’s removal of stocks from the High Shareholding Concentration (HSC) category.
“Nevertheless, concerns regarding the potential downgrade of Indonesia’s capital market status from emerging market to frontier market are expected to start subsiding,” Ratna said.
On the other hand, MSCI will maintain previously announced measures currently in place for the Indonesian market, including the freeze on all increases in Foreign Inclusion Factor (FIF) and Number of Shares (NOS); the freeze on adding constituents to the MSCI Investable Market Indexes (IMI); and the freeze on upward movements between index size segments, including from Small Cap to Standard.
From abroad, Asian markets strengthened amid signs of diplomatic progress in the Middle East, as market participants await the second round of peace talks between the United States (US) and Iran.
Optimism rose after Iran indicated it might join talks with the US ahead of the ceasefire deadline, easing geopolitical concerns.
Iran stated it would send representatives for further discussions with US Vice President JD Vance in Pakistan on Tuesday (21/4/2026) evening.
Previously, US President Donald Trump said there was little chance of extending the ceasefire if no agreement with Iran was reached this week.
Opening lower, the JCI remained in negative territory through the first trading session and stayed in the red zone until the close of the second session.
Based on the IDX-IC Sectoral Index, eight sectors advanced, led by the industrials sector which rose 2.71 percent, followed by the basic materials sector and the transportation & logistics sector, each up 2.22 percent and 1.76 percent respectively.
Meanwhile, three sectors weakened, with the energy sector posting the deepest decline of 1.07 percent, followed by the healthcare sector and the infrastructure sector, down 0.12 percent and 0.04 percent respectively.
The stocks with the largest gains included BOBA, LAND, LCKM, RODA, and CTTH. Those with the largest declines were DSSA, POLU, IFSH, BREN, and IDEA.
Share trading frequency was recorded at 2,706,602 transactions, with 43.33 billion shares traded worth Rp17.90 trillion. A total of 386 stocks rose, 264 fell, and 168 remained unchanged.
Regional Asian stock exchanges in the afternoon included the Nikkei Index, which rose 520.11 points or 0.88 percent to 59,345.00; the Shanghai Index up 2.95 or 0.07 percent to 4,085.08; the Hang Seng Index up 126.41 points or 0.48 percent to 26,487.48; and the Straits Times Index up 5.79 points or 0.09 percent to 5,009.50.