Indonesian companies can now buy back their shares for six months without getting shareholder approval, according to Inarno Djajadi, a senior official at financial service regulator OJK. This move follows a decline in the benchmark Jakarta Composite, which fell 7.73% in the past week. The market hit a 30-minute temporary suspension after the index fell below the 5% threshold for the first time since late 2020. Factors affecting investor sentiment include a sluggish economy, weakness in the Indonesian rupiah, and potential cabinet reshuffle noise. Ari Jahja, head of Indonesia research at Macquarie Capital, noted concerns about how the country’s new sovereign wealth fund Danantara will impact growth. The Indonesian rupiah has weakened 0.64% against the U.S. dollar to 16,450. Jahja expects Bank Indonesia to hold interest rates steady at 5.75% in its policy meeting. Regarding monetary policy, the market expects a hold on BI rate, but there is still room for a surprise cut to boost the economy. Meanwhile, Ecaterina Bigos, CIO for Asia-excluding Japan at AXA Investment Managers, stated that the emergence of DeepSeek has been a ‘gamechanger’ for the Chinese economy, bolstering investors’ optimism about AI’s potential growth and economic benefits. However, Bigos argues that ‘China’s economy needs more than AI.’ Policy support is still required to address deflation and drive a broader, sustainable earnings recovery. In Japan, February’s trade balance came in at 584.5 billion yen ($3.91 billion), reversing from a trade deficit in the previous month. Exports rose 11.4% year-on-year, making it the fifth month of growth, while imports decreased 0.7% year-on-year. Baird’s investment strategist Ross Mayfield mentioned that stocks could see more pullback from current trading levels. He stated that the average non-recession pullback or correction is in the 15% range. As of afternoon trading, the S&P 500 has tumbled 8.6% from its recent all-time high. — news from CNBC