Jakarta. The Indonesia Stock Exchange's (IDX) Composite Stock Price Index achieved a historic high, concluding with a 7.94-point increase (0.11 percent) at 7,381.9 during Friday's trading session. The previous record was set at 7,373.9 on Thursday.

A trading volume of 14 million shares, amounting to Rp 13.4 trillion ($861.3 million), saw 244 stocks gaining, 273 correcting, and 252 remaining stable.

The financial sector spearheaded the surge with a 0.6 percent increase, trailed by advances in the primary consumer goods sector by 0.2 percent, the transportation sector by 0.1 percent, the industrial sector by 0.1 percent, and the infrastructure sector by 0.1 percent.

With the IDX achieving a new all-time high, several stocks encountered substantial gains. Among these performers are Bank Mayapada Internasional, soaring by 23.4 percent to Rp 284, and MNC Sky Vision, experiencing a 21.9 percent surge to Rp 89.

In Asia, Japan’s benchmark Nikkei 225 added 0.2 percent to finish at 39,688.94. Sydney’s S&P/ASX 200 jumped 1.1 percent to 7,847. South Korea’s Kospi surged 1.2 percent to 2,680.35. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.8 percent to 16,353.39, while the Shanghai Composite recouped early losses to be 0.6 percent higher at 3,046.02.

US Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said in testimony on Capitol Hill that the central bank is “not far” from delivering the cuts to interest rates that Wall Street craves so much. He said that the Fed is just waiting for additional data to confirm inflation is cooling.

It’s a key point on Wall Street, where after shelving earlier hopes for cuts to begin in March, traders now see June as the likeliest starting point. The Fed’s main interest rate is at its highest level since 2001.