Should've been

This one made the front page (of the internally-published paper - don't ask why it's not out yet nor when it will be), so gloat gloat gloat time!

Confusion reigns as traders stare into the void
Putri Prameshwari

The stunned look in Pardede’s eyes, as if he had lost the will to live, said it all as he stepped into the cavernous trading room of the Indonesia Stock Exchange on Wednesday afternoon.

Groups of stock brokers stood in nervous chatter around the room, where trading had been abruptly suspended just before noon after the market’s composite index began to plummet dramatically for the second time in three days.

It was only the second time trading was suspended in the exchange’s 31-year history.

“All of this is so sudden,” said Pardede, a trader at JIMB Securities. “We didn’t expect this. We were never ready for trading to be stopped.”

Just outside the hall, traders gathered in groups to discuss the subject of their collective disbelief: a seemingly bottomless index that had fallen more than 21 percent since trading began this week. Some traders got the message and headed for the door. “Go home, go home,” they told the others.

But people continued to mill about outside the main trading room, or sat in a small cafeteria nearby, smoking cigarettes and drinking iced tea, uncertain whether the day was truly over.

They were not the only ones stunned by the day’s events.

In contrast to the nearly empty main trading room, dozens of people remained in the upstairs viewing gallery watching what was left of the day’s carnage. Their ears were glued to their cellphones.

A normal trading day ends at 4 p.m., so those who had packed the gallery, including students who were waiting to attend a public class about the exchange’s operations, appeared confused. Across the gallery they clutched their books, mingling among confused investors and news reporters gazing through the glass at the hall below.

“The class has been delayed and moved to another room because the lecturers are having a meeting about the suspension,” said Anita, one of the students, who only recently had begun investing in stocks.

One 30-something woman, who asked not to be named, said she attended the class to learn more about the stock exchange and how to make personal investments. As a housewife with little prior experience in finance, she said she usually only deposited her money in the bank or bought gold.

“But seeing today’s uncertain situation, I may think twice about [investing in stocks],” she said while two friends looked on, nodding.

Alfaris, who works for Kim Eng Securities, said his clients had not complained about the suspension.

“I think clients consider the suspension a relatively normal action because they have seen it happen elsewhere,” Alfaris said, zipping up his jacket and calling it a day.

But Saidu Solihin from the Indonesian Brokers Association, said the halt had shocked some of his clients, although he said many understood the reasons and did not panic.

“We told them that this is to rescue their investments, preventing them from plunging further without any value added,” Saidu said.

Behind him, two brokers were busily talking on their phones about the market crash.

Anita said she was not worried about the suspended trading.

“This is a risk I knew I would take when I first decided to invest my money,” she said.

“Sometimes it goes up, sometimes it goes down.”

And on Wednesday, amid the confusion of everyone hoping for the former, it was decidedly the latter.