'Stock market will remain under pressure due to Iraq'<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
Despite a slight rise last week, the Jakarta Composite Index will
\nremain under pressure this week on continued concerns about the
\nprospect of a war in Iraq, stock analysts said.<\/p>\n
Last week's trading saw the stock index climb by around 0.8
\npercent to close at 402.24 points, up 2.728 as compared to the
\nweek before. But, a stock analyst at a European bank said that
\nthe rise would be short-lived as fears of war have yet to
\nsubside.<\/p>\n
"As long as concerns about war remain, I think the (Jakarta)
\nmarket will remain under pressure. The index will likely go below
\nthe level of 400 points again this week because of this
\nsentiment," an analyst, who asked to remain anonymous, told The
\nJakarta Post on Sunday.<\/p>\n
The absence of positive domestic sentiment would also add to
\ninvestors' lack of appetite to take "the buy-position stance" ,
\nwhich would otherwise trigger significant major buying, in turn
\nboosting the index, he added.<\/p>\n
"So, in the meantime, investors would wait on the sidelines
\nwaiting for fresh leads, most notably the latest progress from
\nIraq."<\/p>\n
The Iraq crisis has been the major issue for the last several
\nweeks, sparking market jitters all over the world including
\nIndonesia because if the war materializes, the world's already
\nfragile economy would be hard hit.<\/p>\n
The negative sentiment arising from the Iraq crisis has put a
\nsolid lid on the movement of the index in the Jakarta stock
\nmarket, which was previously on an upward trend.<\/p>\n
Last week, the daily volume averaged 202.68 million shares
\nworth Rp 201.5 billion (US$22.6 million), compared with 174.5
\nmillion shares valued at Rp 205.8 billion the previous week.<\/p>\n
Despite the gloomy outlook, however, selected shares from the
\nblue chip companies would still draw attention from investors due
\nto their relatively low prices and keep the index downward trend
\nin check.<\/p>\n
"This would help prevent the index from dropping too
\ndrastically," he added.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile on the currency market, Dow Jones quoted local
\ntraders as saying that the U.S. dollar is unlikely to climb much
\nhigher this week, as the central bank stands poised to sell
\ndollars to protect the rupiah at the Rp 9,000 per dollar level.<\/p>\n
The rupiah closed last week at 8,910, up slightly from the
\nprevious week's closing of 8,930.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/stock-market-will-remain-under-pressure-due-to-iraq-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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