JAKARTA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Indonesian stocks fell as much as 1.6 percent on Thursday morning, hurt by worldwide market fears over the U.S. Federal Reserve decision to trim its bond purchases by another $10 billion.
Asian shares took a spill as strains in emerging markets returned with a vengeance following the U.S. tapering announcement. Also, a measure of Chinese manufacturing slipped to a six-month low for January and gave speculators a fresh excuse to target risky assets.
"Stronger U.S. dollar is feared to be a negative sentiment for some developing and emerging countries, which are still struggling with the trade deficit and foreign debt," said Batavia Prosperindo Sekuritas in a note on Thursday.
Semen Indonesia and Holcim Indonesia were down more than 2 percent each, while Astra International was down 1.56 percent on concern that these cement and auto makers are likely to post negative monthly sales numbers due to the recent floods in the country.
However, the drop was redeemed by better trade surplus of $800 million seen in December, announced by Finance Minister Chatib Basri.
At 0500 GMT, Jakarta composite index was down 0.68 percent. Blue chip index slid 0.87 percent, drove by miscellaneous and basic industry sectors. which were down 1.2 percent each. (Reporting by Andjarsari Paramaditha; Editing by Gopakumar Warrier)