"Alhamdulillah, thank God, we close the IDX today at 6,355.65 points. This was beyond our expectations," the president said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - President Joko "Jokowi" Widodo closed the Indonesia Composite Index (IDX) trade for 2017 on Friday afternoon.

"Alhamdulillah, thank God, we close the IDX today at 6,355.65 points. This was beyond our expectations," he said in his speech at the Jakarta Stock Exchange.

Some ministers and officials also attended the closing market on Friday. The Coordinating Minister of Economics Darmin Nasution, Minister of Finance Sri Mulyani Inderawati, the governor of Indonesia`s Central Bank "Bank Indonesia" Agus Martowardojo, and chairman of the Financial Service Authority Wimboh Santoso, were all present.

The Indonesian President asked all market stakeholders as well as the public to remain optimistic about the domestic situation, and ignore the political and economic speculations that might affect the investment climate.

"If we are caught by the fear of risks, we will lose our chance, we will miss the opportunity, and sometimes such an opportunity only comes once," he said.

President Jokowi also lauded the IDX`s good performance in weathering all the internal and external risks in 2017.

The Indonesia Stock Exchange notched up a number of achievements in 2017. The number of investors increased to 1.12 million or up to 44 percent during the last two years, which was followed by the domestic investment value reaching Rp340 trillion (around US $25.3 billion).

The IDX also listed 37 companies` initial public offerings (IPO) in 2017, which was the highest number of IPOs during the last 23 years in the Southeast Asian region.

However, the IDX has remained relatively small and less liquid compared to the bourses in the other major economies in the region.

The IDX had only about 550 listings with a total market capitalization of US $480 billion, compared to 755 listings in Singapore with US $717 billion, 900 in Kuala Lumpur with US $410 billion, and 525 in Bangkok with US $442 billion.

(T.A060/INE/B003
Edited by INE
(T.A060/A/KR-BSR/B003)

Reporter: antara
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2017