VOI - Voice of Indonesia | RRI - Radio Republik Indonesia

FILE PHOTO: A man walks under an electronic screen showing Japan's Nikkei share price index inside a conference hall 2022. REUTERS/Issei Kato/File Photo - 

VOInews, TOKYO/LONDON : World stocks recovered some losses on Monday and bonds, oil and gold dipped as investors reversed some of their more defensive positions taken going into the weekend on fears of a wider Middle East conflict.

The week ahead is packed with corporate earnings, with 158 companies in the S&P 500 and 173 companies in the STOXX 600 reporting first quarter results this week according to data from LSEG workspace.

These include several big European banks, as well as U.S. tech giants Microsoft and Alphabet, with the latter in particular focus after chip maker Nvidia's 10 per cent drop on Friday, its biggest percentage fall in four years.

Crucial U.S. PCE inflation data, the Federal Reserve's preferred gauge, due Friday, finishes off the week. After CPI data earlier this month, markets currently see the first Fed rate cut coming in September.

Ahead of all that, shares rose on Monday, with the STOXX 600 up 0.25 per cent and S&P 500 futures 0.36 per cent higher after MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8 per cent. All fell on Friday.

London's commodities-heavy FTSE100 rose around 1 per cent the biggest gainer among large Europpean benchmarks, as tin and nickel rose to new muulti-month highs. [.L][MET/L]

It was outpaced by a 2.3 per cent gain for the Portugese index as oil company Galp Energia had a STOXX 600 topping 17 per cent jump after saying a field off Namibia could contain 10 bln barrels of oil. [.EU]

In a further reversal of Friday's "rise off" mood, gold eased back from near its peaks, U.S. Treasury yields ticked higher and crude oil prices declined as the potential for a major supply disruption waned.

In recent weeks, investors have taken cautious positions on Fridays fearing an escalation in the conflict in the Middle East over the weekend when markets are closed and they are unable to trade.

"It seems neither Israel nor Iran want an escalation in the crisis in the Middle East ... and with a subsequent strike from either side not looking like it's coming, investor concerns have eased somewhat," said Kazuo Kamitani, a strategist at Nomura Securities.

However, Kamitani said expectations of later Federal Reserve interest rate cuts and concerns about chip sector earnings will continue to keep investors on their toes.

Iran said on Friday that it had no plan to retaliate following an apparent Israeli drone attack within its borders, which in turn followed an Iranian missile and drone attack on Israel days before.

HAVEN OUTFLOWS

Bond yields - which climb when prices fall - rose back toward multi-month highs.

The 10-year U.S. Treasury yield was last up 3 basis points to 4.64 per cent, heading back toward the five-month peak of 4.696 per cent reached last week on the view that the Fed would be in no hurry to ease policy amid robust economic data and sticky inflation. [US/]

European yields also edged higher. [GVD/EUR]

The dollar index, which measures the currency against six major peers, eased 0.05 per cent to 106.05. It was also at a five-month top last week, at 106.51.

"As long as there is this uncertainty about the cutting cylce particularly in the U.S, its interesting for investors to be in dollar longs because of its dual status as a high yielding currency and also a defensive currency," said Yvan Berthoux FX strategist at UBS.

Gold slid 1.3 per cent to $2,358.75, retreating from near the all-time peak of $2,431.29 earlier in the month. [GOL/]

Crude oil fell as traders put the focus back on fundamentals with a rise in U.S. stockpiles as the backdrop

Brent futures fell 137 cents, or 1.56 per cent to $85.92 a barrel. [O/R]//Reuters, CNA-VOI

FILE PHOTO: Members of the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) Joint Task Force assist in delivering ballot boxes by NH90 helicopter to remote areas of the Solomon Islands ahead of the upcoming election, Solomon Islands, in this handout image released on April 17, 2024. New Zealand Defence Force/Handout via REUTERS/File Photo - 

VOInews, Solomon Island : The Solomon Islands election, watched by China and the US for its impact on regional security, is shaping up as a tight race with opposition parties gaining seats and independents holding the key to forming the next government.

Last week's national election was the first since Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare struck a security pact with China in 2022, drawing the Pacific Islands nation closer to Beijing. The move concerned the US and neighbouring Australia because of the potential impact on regional security.

Counting for several seats continued on Monday (Apr 22), as results showed the opposition CARE coalition drawing level with Sogavare's OUR party on 12 seats in a 50-seat parliament.

Independents and micro parties took 16 seats, and the major parties will seek to win independent support in negotiations this week in the race to form a government.

CARE includes Matthew Wale's Solomon Islands Democratic Party, U4C and the Democratic Alliance Party. Another prominent opposition party, Peter Kenilorea Jr's United, which said it would scrap the China security pact, won seven seats.

One source with direct knowledge told Reuters two independent candidates had joined CARE on Monday, and unofficial results showed it had won two more seats, which would take its numbers to 16.

High-profile former prime minister Gordon Darcy Lilo returns to parliament after a decade, as the only winning candidate for the Party for Rural Advancement.

Daniel Suidani, the former premier of Malaita province and a prominent critic of China, regained his seat in the provincial assembly in Malaita, and said on Monday his party, U4C, hoped to regain the premiership.

Provincial and national elections were held on the same day.

"It looks as though the CARE coalition - U4C, DAP and SIDP - are very shortly joining with some other independent candidates, so it is looking good," Suidani told Reuters in a telephone interview on Monday, adding the process could take a number of days.

Sogavare's office did not respond to a request for comment.

In excerpts of an interview with Solomon Islands' Tavuli News on Monday, Sogavare pledged there would be "a lot of reforms" if his government is returned.

Two women enter parliament for the first time as independents.

Police and defence forces from Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Fiji are assisting with election security.

The election process had been peaceful, although there were a few disturbances in Malaita by supporters of losing candidates, two officials in Malaita said//Reuters, CNA - VOI

FILE PHOTO: Bank Indonesia's logo is seen at Bank Indonesia headquarters in Jakarta, Indonesia, January 17, 2019. REUTERS/Willy Kurniawan/File photo - 

VOInews, BENGALURU : Bank Indonesia will cut its key interest rate next quarter and again in the fourth quarter, later than previously expected, as inflation rises and the rupiah weakens on renewed hawkishness from the U.S. Federal Reserve, a Reuters poll found. 

A major hurdle for the central bank, whose main mandate is currency stability, will be cutting rates too soon as the rupiah hit a four-year low on Wednesday after comments from U.S. Federal Reserve officials boosted the dollar.

Inflation touched a seven-month high last month and moved closer to the upper limit of Bank Indonesia's (BI) 1.5 per cent-3.5 per cent inflation target range, suggesting policy rates would need to remain higher for longer.

Over 80 per cent, or 29 of 35, of the economists in the April 16-22 poll expected the central bank to hold its benchmark seven-day reverse repurchase rate at 6.00 per cent at its April 23-24 meeting. Six expected a quarter-point hike.

"We recently pushed back our first rate cut forecast ... given the movement of the rupiah on the back of fewer rate cuts expectation from the Fed by the market," said Makoto Tsuchiya, an economist at Oxford Economics.

"If the central bank were to deter further currency weakness, a 25 bps (basis points) hike is unlikely to do much ... BI will defend its currency by forex market intervention if necessary."

Median forecasts showed the first quarter-point cut coming next quarter, compared to expectations for a cut in the second quarter in a poll in March, followed by another reduction to 5.50 per cent by the end of December, versus 5.25 per cent seen previously.

That was in line with expectations around the Fed as a recent poll showed the first U.S. rate cut has likely been pushed to September.

Among those who provided interest rate forecasts for the third quarter with nearly two-thirds, 21 of 32 economists expect them to be 5.75 per cent or lower. But seven saw rates at 6.00 per cent and four at 6.25 per cent.

"We think the likelihood of a rate hike has risen ... BI is more likely to stay patient and proceed with care, not chasing the initial Fed cut," said Brian Tan, an economist at Barclays.

Only Barclays expected interest rates to be at 6.25 per cent by the end of the year.

There was a clear hawkish shift among economists as over half of the contributors, 15 of 26, raised their fourth quarter forecasts from a March poll. While 10 kept them unchanged, one lowered their rate expectation.

"For Indonesia, the prime driver of monetary policy action is Fed action, not necessarily inflation unless it goes way beyond target," said Kunal Kundu, an economist at Societe Generale.

"Headline inflation remaining above its (BI's) median target of 2.5 per cent suggests that the trajectory of ... rate-easing cycle could be shallow."

While inflation was expected to average 2.9 per cent this year and 3.0 per cent in 2025, economic growth was seen steady at 5.0 per cent in 2024 from 5.05 per cent in 2023 and is forecast to be 5.1 per cent next year.

(For other stories from the Reuters global economic poll)//VOI

President Joko Widodo delivers his remarks while officiating Panua Airport, the newest domestic airport in Pohuwato District, Gorontalo Province, Monday (April 22, 2024). ANTARA/HO-Diskominfotik Provinsi Gorontalo/nbl - 

VOInews, Gorontalo : President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) expected Panua Airport, the newest domestic airport in Gorontalo Province's Pohuwato District to bolster the regional economy as well as the mobility of passengers and logistics.

"I am glad, praise be to God that Panua Airport in Pohuwato District has been completed. Transportation Minister (Budi Karya Sumadi) told me that Rp473 billion (US$29.14 million) has been spent for the development," the president stated while officiating the airport here on Monday.

He said the airport development proved Indonesia is keen to make faster progress in its national economy and development.

"(It is) because in the future, the case is not larger countries that overpower smaller countries, but countries (whose development) progress is faster will beat countries who lag behind," Jokowi stated.

The president also instructed Panua Airport's runway of 1,200 x 30 meters to be extended to allow larger aircraft to land.

"I instructed (officials) to take measures to extend the runway length this year, if possible, or next year by the latest," he remarked.

Meanwhile, Minister Sumadi stated that the airport is one of the president's commitments to ensuring equitable development across the country.

"The airport is one of the legacies of the president who always instructs us to develop airports in all corners of the nation," the minister said.

He highlighted that the high budget of Rp473 billion disbursed for Panua Airport's development aims to improve the soil condition in the airport area before the construction commences.

The president arrived at Panua Airport for the inauguration on Monday at 7:51 a.m. local time. He departed from Djalaluddin Airport in the province's capital aboard an ATR 72-600 aircraft, the largest aircraft currently being served at the new airport.

Before being officially opened by the president, the inaugural flight from and to Panua Airport had taken place on February 18, 2024//Antara - VOI