Analysts see stable stock trading
JAKARTA (JP): Several analysts predicted that share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) are likely to move either up or down in a narrow range of selective buying.
"I do not expect the prices of blue-chip stocks to go up because foreign investors may view that those stocks are already expensive," a Japanese-born analyst, Ikeda, told The Jakarta Post here over the weekend.
"In a positive viewpoint, I would say that the blue chips were already stable, not to say stagnant, meaning that only big news will move those stocks up or down," said an analyst with a foreign brokerage.
Pulp
The analyst, who preferred to be unnamed, forecasted that stocks from the pulp and paper sector and wood-based industry will remain attractive due to a projection on pulp price recovery.
"News on pulp price increases has been positively responded to by the market since the last few weeks. The positive reaction itself also signaled a recovery of investors' confidence in the wood-base industry," he told the Post.
He said that pulp prices continuously declined since August last year and hit their lowest level in March.
"I do not expect the price increase to be significant this year but it's worth noting that Indonesian pulp and paper companies are going to see substantial increases in the volume of their production this year," he said. "A small price increment is enough to help the companies record improvements in earnings."
Ikeda, who is also the general manager of PT Asian Development Securities, said that the stagnant performance of big caps reflected that the JSX might have seen a decline in fresh foreign funds.
"In this circumstance, many fund managers are now looking for other markets which are more attractive, such as Malaysia, Singapore or Hong Kong," he added.
The newly-elected commissioner of the Surabaya Stock Exchange, Nurkhamid Akhmad, shared the opinion that the JSX will see selective buying this week.
"I think investors will chase the second and third liner stocks next week," Nurkhamid told the Post.
"Moreover, in a situation where no new issues come to the market, investors will take a close look at small and medium companies which plan to issue bonus shares or to split stocks," Nurkhamid added.
He said that local investors will speculatively buy those shares for gains only.
Last week, the JSX saw a rebound on selective big caps, encouraged by Telkom's recovery on the Wall Street on Monday. Telkom closed the week on the JSX two points higher at Rp 3,700 (US$1.57) from the previous week, after reaching its lowest level of Rp 2,525 on Monday and the highest at Rp 3,825 on Wednesday.
The JSX Composite Index increased by 1.8 percent or 11.1 points from the previous week to 619.28 points at last week's close, after hitting the lowest level of 599.67 on Monday.
Total transaction value reached Rp 1.6 trillion with 536 million shares changing hands.
Foreign-buy transactions amounted to Rp 1.17 trillion against sell transactions of Rp 1.10 trillion.
Putra Sejahtera Pioneerindo, an operator and franchiser of fried chicken restaurants, was recorded as the second-top active stock in terms of volume with 29 million of its shares, worth Rp 25 billion, traded on the news of private placement by a foreign company.
Putra Sejahtera's share prices increased by 18 percent to Rp 800 at last week's close.
Last week's top gainer was Perdana Cipta Multifinance, which increased by 67 percent to Rp 1,300 because "investors responded positively to the company's plan to issue bonus shares and to split stocks by halving their nominal value to Rp 500," Nurkhamid said.
Among the top losers was Ficorinvest Bank, which dropped by 18 percent to Rp 2,125 on the news that the central bank, Bank Indonesia, will halve its stake at the commercial bank.
A Bandung-based textile manufacture, Panasia Indocyntetic, formerly named Hadtex, lost 27 percent to Rp 750 on the news that the company will acquire the assets of a sister company under the Panasia Group, Panasia Interfie.
The state-owned tin mining Tambang Timah rose 17 percent to Rp 4,900 on a stronger first quarter result.
Last week's most active stocks in values were Telkom (with a total transaction value of Rp 287 billion), followed by Lippo Land Development (Rp 135 billion), Jakarta International Hotel & Development (Rp 66 billion), Kawasan Industri Jababeka (Rp 60 billion), HM Sampoerna (Rp 60 billion), Bank Niaga (Rp 59 billion), CMNP (Rp 59 billion), Bank Internasional Indonesia (Rp 38 billion), Astra International (Rp 35 billion) and Semen Gresik (Rp 33 billion). (alo)