Indonesia country-specific exchange traded funds have been rallying ahead of the elections, with the Jakarta benchmark index crossing into bull market territory as Governor Joko Widodo was nominated for president.
The iShares MSCI Indonesia ETF (NYSEArca: EIDO) surged 6.5% and the Market Vectors Indonesia Index ETF (NYSEArca: IDX) jumped 6.0% Friday. Since the August 27 low, EIDO has gained 33.1% and IDX increased 22.7%.
The Jakarta Composite Index rose 3.2% after the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle gave Widodo the mandate to run for presidency in the July elections, Bloomberg reports. The benchmark index is now up 23% since the Aug. 27 low, crossing over the 20% mark as defined by a bull market.
Widodo, the governor of Jakarta, has focused on infrastructure development and streamlining tax collection, which has helped bolster his standing in the business community. Consequently, some are calling him “Mr. Fix-it,” according to Khoon Goh, a senior foreign-exchange strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd, SFGate reports.
“Investors are flowing into Indonesian equities on the announcement and they are buying liquid stocks with large capitalization like banks,” Alvin Pattisahusiwa, chief investment officer at PT Manulife Aset Manajemen Indonesia, said in the SFGate article. “Looking at his track record in setting up the healthcare system and speeding up infrastructure development, I expect infrastructure, construction and healthcare companies to benefit from his presidency.”
The financial sector is the largest holding in the Indonesia stock ETFs. EIDO has a 28.6% weight toward financials while IDX allocates 31.6% to the sector. Industrials and healthcare components have a lower weighting. EIDO includes 6.0% in industrials and 2.5% in health care, whereas IDX has 5.0% in industrials and 2.7% in health care.