REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, JAKARTA -- Shares of Indonesian State-Owned Enterprises (SOEs, well-known as BUMN--badan usaha milik negara) and its affiliates are said to be one of the main drivers of the stock market on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). This is reflected in the share of BUMN stock market capitalization on the IDX.

IDX President Director Inarno Djajadi said the capitalization of shares of SOEs and their affiliates has increased by 105 percent in the last 10 years. As of April 27, 2021, the BUMN stock market capitalization was recorded at Rp1,677 trillion, up from Rp817 trillion in 2011.

Referring to the market capitalization value, according to Inarno, BUMN shares and their affiliates control 24 percent of the total market capitalization. There are currently 34 SOEs listed on the IDX.

Inarno said the data shows the interest of Indonesian capital market investors to invest in BUMN shares, especially in SOEs' sharia-based stocks. Just like BUMN shares, Islamic stocks are also increasingly in demand by investors.

During the last 10 years, the Islamic capital market has grown massively. Since 2011, the number of Islamic stocks has increased rapidly by 84 percent, higher than the growth of non-Islamic stocks which was only 44 percent.

The increase also occurred in terms of trading activity. The average daily transaction value for Islamic stocks was recorded at a high rate, from Rp 2.41 trillion in 2011 to Rp 8.19 trillion as of April 27, 2021.

Inarno emphasized that IDX welcomes the initiative to establish a new Islamic stock index for BUMN shares, namely IDX-MES BUMN 17. This index measures the price performance of 17 Islamic BUMN stocks and their affiliates that have large market capitalization and good liquidity and fundamentals.

Inarno hopes that this index can become a reference for the creation of sharia index-based investment products such as sharia index mutual funds or sharia ETFs. The goal is so that sharia investors can easily invest in Islamic BUMN shares.