BENGALURU: Stock markets across Southeast Asia rose on Tuesday after a long weekend and South Korean equities rebounded from losses, helped by chipmaker SK Hynix’s plans to double wafer capacity.
The Indonesian rupiah recovered from a record low of 17,892 a dollar to rise to 17,840, snapping a five-day losing streak.
The currency, however, remains under pressure on concerns over fiscal policy, governance, planned commodity export restrictions and elevated energy prices that are adding to current account strain, all of which have dampened foreign investor sentiment.
Indonesia’s benchmark gauge jumped as much as 2.2 percent, its biggest daily gain in seven weeks. Data showed annual inflation accelerated above market expectations in May, while exports jumped 22 percent in April, higher than the median forecast in a Reuters poll.
Jakarta stocks are down nearly 23 percent since the US-Israeli war with Iran began in late February, making them the region’s worst-hit, while the rupiah’s 6.4 percent decline puts it right behind the Philippine peso, which has shed nearly 7 percent in that period.
Singapore’s FTSE Straits Times index, meanwhile, climbed 0.8 percent, inching closer to its all-time high touched last week, while Thailand’s benchmark rose more than 1 percent to a three-year high, underpinned by strength in industrial stocks.
Markets in Malaysia will resume trading on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, South Korea’s KOSPI inched higher, as chipmaker SK Hynix pared losses to trade largely flat after revealing plans to double wafer capacity over the next five years.
Taiwan’s benchmark index rose 0.5 percent, driven by a 1 percent climb in TSMC.
Both technology-heavy markets have benefited from inflows into AI-linked stocks, with South Korea’s KOSPI soaring 108 percent so far this year.
Investor enthusiasm for artificial intelligence has attracted massive capital, helping offset concerns over higher energy prices across oil-import dependent economies.
The dollar index, which measures the currency against six peers, held steady at 99.165.
The South Korean won further weakened to 1,519.2 per dollar.
Consumer inflation quickened in May to a more than two-year high, beating expectations and bolstering the case for further monetary tightening from the Bank of Korea.
The Indian rupee edged lower, last at 95.2 per dollar, reflecting a 5.6 percent decline so far this year.
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