Most Asian stocks are in the red zone on Monday (09/05) and Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index is leading declines. At the end of the first trading session Indonesian shares were down 1.15 percent at 4,767.32 points. Important issues that influence the performance of Asian stock markets are China's April trade data and US April jobs data. Meanwhile, crude oil prices continued to rally and the yen finally weakened against the US dollar (hence supporting Japanese stocks).

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Indonesian cosmetic companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange have not yet seen earnings gain momentum in the first quarter of 2016. Martina Berto is the only listed cosmetic producer that managed to post rising net sales and net profit in Q1-2016. Meanwhile, the two other cosmetic firms - Mustika Ratu and Mandom Indonesia - saw their net sales decline in the same period due to weak purchasing power and household consumption in Southeast Asia's largest economy. Moreover, cosmetic firms have been offering discounts in order to raise sales volumes.

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Ahead of central bank meetings in the USA and Japan, and amid a volatile performance of crude oil prices the benchmark stock index of Indonesia (Jakarta Composite Index) fell 1.33 percent to 4,814.09 points on Tuesday (26/04), leading losses among Asian indices. The Federal Reserve's two-day FOMC meeting, scheduled to start today, is making investors cautious as this meeting may give some clues about the possibility of a June Fed Fund Rate hike. Overall, the performance of Asian stock markets was rather mixed on Tuesday. This performance was also attributed to weak cues from Wall Street and Europe overnight.

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Asian stocks did not have a good start of the week. Most Asian stocks fell on Monday (25/04) in line with retreating oil prices, concerns that the US Federal Reserve may be hinting at further monetary tightening in its upcoming policy meeting, as well as concerns about China's debt and commodities markets. It all resulted in curbed demand for higher-yielding yet riskier Asian assets. Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index fell 0.73 percent to 4,878.86 points, while the Indonesian rupiah depreciated 0.04 percent to IDR 13,199 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index).

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The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) kept its key interest rate (BI rate) at 6.75 percent at the April policy meeting. This decision was in line with expectations. During the three policy meetings conducted in the January-March 2016 period Bank Indonesia had already cut its BI rate by a combined 75 basis points as inflation and the current account deficit are under control, while the Indonesian rupiah has been strengthening against the US dollar since the start of 2016. Last week, Bank Indonesia announced it will adopt the seven-day reverse repurchase rate (reverse repo) to replace the existing BI rate as the bank's key monetary tool.

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Stock markets in Asia are plagued by the failure to see an 'oil freeze deal' reached at OPEC's oil talks in Doha over the weekend. Saudi Arabia announced it will not curtail its oil production as long as other oil producing countries do not curtail production as well. It specifically wants its geopolitical rival Iran to join the production freeze. However, Iran decided not to join the meeting and ruled out any output cuts after recently rejoining the international oil market (due to the lifting of sanctions). Iran indicated it is not cut any output before its oil production reaches the pre-sanction level.

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Stocks in Asia were mostly up on Tuesday (12/04) supported by the weaker Japanese yen (retreating after a seven-day rally again the US dollar) and rising commodity prices (with crude oil touching a 2016 high at USD $43 per barrel after the US dollar weakened). Indonesia's benchmark Jakarta Composite Index rose 0.89 percent to 4,829.57 points, while the rupiah appreciated 0.14 percent to IDR 13,115 per US dollar (Bloomberg Dollar Index). Several analysts claim that the positive performance of Indonesian assets was also due to the government's plan to cut the corporate income tax to 20 percent and raise the non-taxable personal income tax by 50 percent.

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Despite last week's rallying oil prices, rising stocks on Wall Street and in Europe, as well as expectation of a more gradual increase in US interest rates, Indonesia's benchmark stock index (Jakarta Composite Index) plunged 1.23 percent on Monday (11/04). Overall, the performance of Asian stock markets was mixed reflected by stock trading in the two big economies of China and Japan. Whereas Japanese stocks fell due to the stronger yen (touching a new 17-month high against the US dollar), Chinese stocks climbed on easing worries about deflationary pressures (after China's March CPI inflation remained flat at 2.3 percent y/y).

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Indonesia's plan to  raise people's (annual) non-taxable income by 50 percent to IDR 54 million (approx. USD $4,090) is estimated to add 0.3 percentage point to consumption growth in Indonesia according to Indonesia's Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. Last week, Brodjonegoro announced this tax incentive with the aim to strengthen Indonesians' purchasing power and encourage household consumption. Household consumption, which accounts for about 56 percent of Indonesia's overall economic growth, has been curtailed in recent years amid slowing economic growth, high inflation and the weak rupiah rate (against the US dollar).

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Due to weaker-than-expected revenue in 2016, the government of Indonesia has to cut government spending by IDR 50.6 trillion (approx. USD $3.8 billion) this year. Indonesian Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro informed that the government is currently in the middle of discussing revisions of the 2016 State Budget (APBN 2016). Weaker-than-expected government revenue is primarily the cause of weaker-than-targeted tax revenue. The government will also revise its inflation, average rupiah rate, and average oil price targets. Despite the expected cut

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The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia) is optimistic that the country's currency will continue to appreciate against the US dollar in the first quarter of 2014. Executive Director at the Economic and Monetary Policy Department of Bank Indonesia Juda Agung said that there are two factors that impact positively on the performance of the Indonesian rupiah exchange rate: the improved global economy and strengthening domestic economic fundamentals. However, Agung declined to estimate the value of the rupiah by the end of Q1-2014.

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Foreign confidence in Indonesia's capital markets seems to be growing further after foreign investors continued to expand their stock portfolios last week. In February 2014 (up to Friday 21/02), foreigners purchased IDR 36.0 trillion (USD $3.1 billion) worth of stocks and sold IDR 29.3 trillion (USD $2.5 billion), resulting in net foreign buying of 6.7 trillion (USD $570.2 million) in the first three weeks of February 2014. When foreign net buying of January 2014 is added, total net foreign buying reached IDR 9.0 trillion (USD $766.0 million).

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Only 50 days since the start of the fiscal year 2014 have passed and the government has already shown that it is not convinced to meet targets of basic macroeconomic assumptions set in the 2014 State Budget (APBN 2014). Therefore, the Indonesian government has lowered the outlook for all basic macroeconomic assumptions in the 2014 State Budget. On Thursday 19 February 2014, the government formally presented the downward revision of economic targets in the State Budget to the House of Representitative's Budget Agency.

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The Indonesian rupiah exchange rate continued its recent appreciating trend on Monday (17/02). Based on the Bloomberg Dollar Index, the currency strengthened 0.39 percent to IDR 11,785 per US dollar at 16:00 local Jakarta time. Main reason for this renewed confidence in the rupiah is Indonesia's current account deficit, which eased significantly by the end of 2013. According to Bank Indonesia, the deficit eased from 4.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) in the second quarter of 2013 to 1.98 percent of GDP in Q4-2013.

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The current account deficit of Indonesia is expected to ease further in the first quarter of 2014 due to a possible slowdown of imports according to Deputy Finance Minister Bambang Brodjonegoro. This slowdown is estimated to be caused by the implementation of Indonesia's higher income tax on the import of durable consumer goods, effective from January 2014. However, the deficit will not ease markedly from the USD $4 billion deficit (equivalent to 1.98 percent of the country's gross domestic product) recorded in the fourth quarter of 2013.

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At Bank Indonesia's Board of Governors’ Meeting today (13/02), it was decided to maintain the country's benchmark interest rate (BI rate) at 7.50 percent as well as the interest rates on the Lending Facility and Deposit Facility at 7.50 percent and 5.75 percent respectively. The policy is consistent with the tight monetary policy stance currently adopted in order to steer inflation back towards its target corridor of 4.5±1 percent in 2014 and 4±1 percent in 2015, as well as to reduce the current account deficit to a more sustainable level.

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Statistics Indonesia (BPS), a non-departmental government institute, expects that Indonesia's trade balance will post a deficit of around USD $4 billion in 2014. The key question is whether increased manufacturing and agricultural exports can replace reduced raw mineral exports. The forecast of BPS is approximately similar to the country's trade deficit in 2013. Last year, Southeast Asia's largest economy recorded a deficit of USD $4.06 billion as the total value of exports amounted to USD $182.57 billion, while imports reached USD $186.63 billion.

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As companies' financial results of 2013 slowly start to be released, two reports - so far - have raised eyebrows due to significant declines in net profit. These are publicly listed, but majority state-owned, airline Garuda Indonesia and fully state-owned electricity firm Perusahaan Listrik Negara (PLN). Both companies felt the impact of the sharply depreciating Indonesia rupiah exchange rate. The currency fell over 21 percent against the US dollar in 2013 due to capital outflows amid looming US tapering and current account deficit concerns.

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Domestic sales of motorcycles in Indonesia fell 11 percent to 580,288 units in January 2014. The main reason for this decline in the first month of the year were severe floods brought about by high rainfall amid a peak of the rainy season. These weather conditions disrupted the distribution of motorcycles from factories to dealers. As a result, all motorcycle brands recorded lower sales figures according to data released by the Indonesian Motorcycle Industry Association (Aisi). However, more factors were at play.

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ICRA Indonesia, an independent credit rating agency and subsidiary of ICRA Ltd. (associate of Moody's Investors Service), publishes a monthly newsletter which provides an update on the financial and economic developments in Indonesia of the last month. In the January 2014 edition, a number of important topics that are monitored include Indonesia's inflation rate, the trade balance, the current account deficit, the IDR rupiah exchange rate, and gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Below is an excerpt of the newsletter:

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