Wall Street Hits Record as War Cools: Time for IHSG and Rupiah to Rebound
Indonesia’s financial markets are expected to face considerable pressure today due to ongoing war uncertainties combined with sell-off actions in the domestic market. For a fuller projection of today’s market, see page 3 of this article.
The Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) broke its recent strengthening streak. At yesterday’s close on Wednesday (15/4/2026), the index weakened by 0.68% or 52.36 points, returning to the level of 7,623.58. This occurred despite the IHSG comfortably staying in positive territory for nearly the entire trading session yesterday before collapsing an hour before the market closed.
This weakening marks the first in the past week. It is known that the IHSG at yesterday’s close managed to record a gain of nearly 9%. Citing exchange data, from 7 April to 14 April 2026, the IHSG consistently ended in negative territory but surged 8.66% over that period.
Yesterday’s trading value was quite brisk, reaching Rp22.61 trillion, involving 51.44 billion shares in 3.16 million transactions. Market capitalisation also rose to Rp13,606 trillion.
The majority of trading sectors weakened, with the deepest corrections recorded in the health, non-primary consumer, and financial sectors. Meanwhile, the highest gains were booked by the industrial, primary consumer, and energy sectors.
Issuers from the conglomerate group were noted as weighing on the IHSG’s rise yesterday. Here are the 10 issuers with the largest contributions to the index’s weakening in points: the banking giant owned by the Djarum Group (BBCA), the Mayapada Hospital issuer owned by Dato Tahir (SRAJ), the MNC Group issuer of Hary Tanoesoeno (MSIN), the Barito Group issuers of Prajogo Pangestu (TPIA and BRPT), the mining issuers affiliated with the Salin Group (AMMN and BUMI), and three SOEs (BBRI, BMRI, and TLKM).
The IHSG’s movement aligned with regional exchanges. Asian markets continued their rally at the start of yesterday’s trading. This was in line with expectations of a ceasefire between Iran, the United States, and Israel.
Turning to the rupiah exchange rate, the Garuda currency continued its weakening trend against the US dollar (USD), closing in negative territory on Wednesday’s trading (15/4/2026).
Referring to Refinitiv data, the Garuda currency closed down 0.12% at Rp17,130/USD. This level once again became the rupiah’s all-time weakest position. The weakening also extended the rupiah’s negative trend to five consecutive trading days.
However, at the morning opening, the rupiah initially strengthened by 0.06% to Rp17,100/USD. But as trading progressed, the rupiah reversed course into negative territory and closed weaker.
On the other side, the US dollar index (DXY), which measures the greenback’s strength against major world currencies, was observed to strengthen slightly by 0.04% to 98.159 at 3:00 PM WIB.
The rupiah’s movement in yesterday’s trading aligned with the US dollar, which tended to stabilise after hitting a six-week low in the previous session.
Previously, the US dollar was pressured by reduced demand for safe-haven assets and falling oil prices, amid hopes of resuming peace negotiations between the US and Iran.
That sentiment had improved after US President Donald Trump stated that the war was nearing its end and Iran was said to want to reach an agreement.
However, uncertainty remains high. Some reports indicate that the US Navy has intercepted eight oil tankers entering or leaving Iranian ports since the blockade began earlier this week.
This situation has market participants still awaiting more concrete developments regarding peace prospects.
Domestically, Bank Indonesia (BI) reported that Indonesia’s External Debt position in February 2026 remained stable. The external debt position was recorded at US$437.9 billion, up from the previous month’s US$434.9 billion.
On an annual basis, Indonesia’s external debt grew 2.5% (year on year/yoy) in February 2026, higher than the previous month’s growth of 1.7% yoy.
Moving to the domestic bond market, the yield on Indonesia’s 10-year Government Securities (SBN) closed at 6.583% yesterday, Wednesday (15/4/2026), down from the previous close of 6.604%. This easing yield indicates rising SBN prices as they are once again sought by investors.
From the US stock market, Wall Street mostly continued its positive rally on Wednesday, or early Thursday Indonesian time.
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite indices rose to new all-time highs on Wednesday, continuing the strong gains throughout the week as investors remained optimistic that the Iran war could end soon.
The S&P 500 rose 0.80% and closed at 7,022.95. The Nasdaq Composite surged 1.59% to 24,016.02. However, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 72.27 points or 0.15% to 48,463.72.
Both Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed at all-time highs, with the tech-heavy Nasdaq recording 11 consecutive days of gains, while the S&P 500 booked 10 positive sessions out of the last 11 trading days.
Wall Street stocks strengthened this week due to the possibility of a peace agreement between the US and Iran.
The S&P 500, which fully recovered losses from the Iran war on Monday, has risen 3% this week. Meanwhile, Nasdaq and Dow have each risen nearly 5% and more than 1% since the start of the week.
“Before the war, market participants had reduced risk because they anticipated conditions could worsen. But when that possibility seemed increasingly unlikely, they started buying back,” said Thomas Martin, Senior Portfolio Manager at Globalt Investments, to CNBC International.
“Investors don’t want to miss out when the market is rising,” he added.
US President Donald Trump again gave hope to investors that the war would not last long.
In an interview with Fox Business on Wednesday, Trump said the Iran war was very close to the end and reiterated that Iran wants to make