Rupiah remains stable, stocks lose ground<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The rupiah maintained its stability yesterday on
\nrelative tranquility at home and regional stability, but local
\nstock prices lost ground on the government's backtracking on its
\nprivatization plan.<\/p>\n
Local currency dealers said the rupiah managed to hit an
\nintraday high of 11,200 against the U.S. dollar in the morning
\nsession after state banks put dollars up for sale.<\/p>\n
The currency hit 10,900 in Singapore.<\/p>\n
\"Some people were panicked so they sold their dollars to cut
\nlosses,\" a chief dealer with a local private bank said.<\/p>\n
But the rupiah gave up its gains in afternoon trading as more
\noperators bought back dollars, he said.<\/p>\n
The rupiah ended the day trading at 11,700 against the dollar,
\ncompared to Wednesday's close at 11,600.<\/p>\n
\"The rupiah closed weaker because some investors bought back
\nthe dollar to square their positions ahead of the weekend,\" the
\nchief dealer said.<\/p>\n
Dealers said that even though some state banks continued to
\nsell dollars for rupiah, their efforts failed to shore up the
\ncurrency as the sums were very limited.<\/p>\n
\"A limited amount of dollar-selling by state banks was eaten
\nup by increasing buying orders from so many investors,\" the
\ndealer said.<\/p>\n
Dealers said that with no rumors of fresh riots, the rupiah
\nwas expected to test the 11,000 level in the coming days, with
\nsupport from state banks and possibly the central bank.<\/p>\n
As the rupiah stabilized, stock prices on the Jakarta Stock
\nExchange (JSX) fell 1.62 percent, weighed down by a massive
\nselloff of blue chips stocks.<\/p>\n
The JSX Composite price index fell 6.56 points to 399.33 on a
\ntotal turnover of 231.52 million shares changing hands valued at
\nRp 287.55 billion (US$24.35 million)<\/p>\n
Losers led gainers by 60 to 40, with 83 shares unchanged.<\/p>\n
Head of research of Mashill Jaya Securities Edhi S. Widjojo
\nsaid that even though there were no fresh reports on social
\nunrest in the country, the lower-than-expected first-half results
\nof most listed companies in the local market prompted investors
\nto dump the stocks.<\/p>\n
\"With no positive news in the market, some investors are
\ntaking a wait-and-see attitude and others continued dumping the
\nstocks,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Heavyweight telecommunications firm PT Telkom, which accounts
\nfor 17 percent of market capitalization, fell Rp 125 to close at
\nRp 3,075 on 27.98 million shares traded.<\/p>\n
Investors dumped state-owned Telkom after it reported a net
\nloss of Rp 1.17 trillion (US$100 million) in the first half of
\nthis year, mainly due to foreign exchange losses.<\/p>\n
Another state-owned telecommunications firm, PT Indosat
\ndropped Rp 625 to Rp 10,175 on 570,000 shares.<\/p>\n
A broker with Trimegah Securindo Lestari said that poor
\nfinancial results in the first half of this year coupled with
\nnews on the delay of the privatization program of state-owned
\ncompanies had caused a negative sentiment to pervade the market.<\/p>\n
\"News that the government will delay the privatization program
\nof state enterprises sent a negative sentiment to the stock
\nmarket,\" the broker said.<\/p>\n
The government announced yesterday that the government would
\nretain its controlling stake at the country's largest cement
\nmaker PT Semen Gresik.<\/p>\n
Semen Gresik nosedived Rp 1,250 to Rp 8,750 on 2.27 million
\nshares changing hands.<\/p>\n
Other state listed firms which led the market a few weeks ago
\ndue to various privatization issues, especially tin miner PT
\nTambang Timah and general mining firm PT Aneka Tambang, also felt
\nthe brunt of market anger.<\/p>\n
Tambang Timah fell Rp 325 to Rp 6,925 on 517,000 shares
\ntraded, and Aneka Tambang declined Rp 75 to Rp 2,075 on 6.43
\nmillion shares. (aly)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/rupiah-remains-stable-stocks-lose-ground-1447893297",
"image": ""
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