Stocks, rupiah rebound slightly from Monday's panic<\/p>\n
A'an Suryana, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) index made a stunning
\nrecovery on Tuesday after suffering from panic selling the
\nprevious day, following the weekend bomb blasts in Bali, which
\ntook almost 200 lives.<\/p>\n
The index closed at 342.20 on Tuesday, up 4.729 points from
\nMonday's close of 337.47.<\/p>\n
Similar positive news came from the currency market with the
\nrupiah strengthening to Rp 9,285 from Rp 9,330 on the previous
\nday after Bank Indonesia's intervention.<\/p>\n
Zulfikar, a stock analyst from Mandiri Securities, said that a
\ntechnical rebound had helped the stock index rise on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
\"The panic selling pushed the stock index down to the bottom
\non Monday. Now, after rationality comes back, the stock index is
\nrecovering,\" Zulfikar told The Jakarta Post.<\/p>\n
The Jakarta Stock Index plunged on Monday to its lowest level
\nin four years at 337.47 amid panic selling following the Bali
\nbomb blasts.<\/p>\n
According to Zulfikar, the stock index would incrementally
\nimprove in the coming days and could stand between 350 to 370
\nuntil December this year.<\/p>\n
It cold be very difficult for the index to go any higher than
\nthat level, as the regional and international markets remained
\nbearish after a string of accounting scandals in the United
\nStates and worries over possible war between U.S. and Iraq, said
\nZulfikar.<\/p>\n
On the currency market, Bank Indonesia succeeded in
\nstabilizing the rupiah after it suffered a significant drop on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
The amount of funds injected to the market by the bank to
\nsupport the currency remained unclear. On Monday, the bank
\napparently injected between US$13 million and $14 million to buy
\nthe currency.<\/p>\n
\"However, the positive development could not assure that the
\nrupiah would continue to improve in the coming days, as
\nspeculators would still attack the rupiah,\" said Pardy Kendy, a
\ncurrency analyst and one of directors at PT Bank Buana.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Asian stock markets closed mostly higher Tuesday,
\nwith prices surging in Tokyo and Hong Kong, on the back of three
\nstraight sessions of gains on Wall Street.<\/p>\n
Japan's benchmark 225-issue Nikkei Stock Average rose 307.12
\npoints, or 3.6 percent, to end at 8,836.73.<\/p>\n
It was the Nikkei's biggest one-day percentage gain since
\nrising more than 5 percent on March 4.<\/p>\n
The Nikkei closed up 89.99 points, or 1.1 percent, Friday.
\nJapanese financial markets were closed Monday for a national
\nholiday.<\/p>\n
In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng Index rose 370.66 points, or 4.1
\npercent, to end at 9,336.39. It was the biggest percentage point
\ngain in nearly a year.<\/p>\n
Brokers said prices were boosted by three straight sessions of
\ngains on Wall Street, with investors shrugging off a weekend
\nbombing attack that killed nearly 200 people on Indonesia's
\ntourist island of Bali.<\/p>\n
On the currency market, the deadly bombing in Bali continued
\nto cast a pall over Asian currency markets Tuesday, traders were
\nquoted by Dow Jones as saying.<\/p>\n
The contagion was evident mainly in neighboring Southeast
\nAsian currencies, with the Singapore dollar, the Philippine peso
\nand the Thai baht all slipping to multi-month lows.<\/p>\n
Against the Singapore dollar, the U.S. unit was quoted around
\nS$1.8069 late in Asia, up from S$1.7986 late Monday, but off a
\npeak of S$1.8070, which was its highest level since mid-May.<\/p>\n
The U.S. dollar ended at a fresh 14-month high of 53.135 pesos
\non the Philippine Dealing System, up from 53.030 pesos at the
\nprevious session close, but off a day's high of 53.170 pesos as
\nthe market focused on the threat of terrorism in the region, and
\nalso on tensions between the U.S. and Iraq.<\/p>",
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