Average transaction values suffer fall: JSX management

Average transaction values suffer fall: JSX management

Rendi A. Witular, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX), said the average value of
daily transactions on the floor from January to April plunged by
around 40 percent to Rp 303 billion (US$36.5 million) compared to
the same period last year.

JSX president Erry Firmansyah said the drop was attributed to
the lingering security and economic problems at home which
undermined the will of both domestic and foreign investors to
conduct stock transactions on the market.

"External factors have undermined the JSX transaction value to
just 50 percent of the company's 2003 target of around Rp 600
billion per day," said Erry to reporters after the company's
annual shareholders meeting on Wednesday.

War in the province of Aceh, bomb threats and the slow pace of
economic recovery in the micro sector have discouraged investors
from taking trading positions at the stock market during the
first few months of this year.

Erry explained if there was no significant progress in the
transaction value by June this year, the company would review its
2003 transaction and initial public offering (IPO) target.

For IPOs, JSX has set a target of 40 companies this year,
however, up until May only six companies, including state-owned
Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Mandiri, have been listed.

Erry also said that JSX earned Rp 950 million in gross profits
from funds raised from stock transactions, IPOs, right and
warrant issuance between January and April.

According to its latest audited financial report, JSX booked a
significant rise in profits to Rp 13.6 billion in 2002 from Rp
1.6 billion in the previous year due to the significant growth of
trading activities which reached an average of Rp 493 billion per
day.

Erry also disclosed to the press that JSX would review its
contract with information technology provider PT Astra Graphia on
a JSX remote trading project which had failed to provide JSX
members with adequate facilities as agreed in the contract.

Among the facilities is the provision of a transmission
facility with the capacity of 900 messages per second. But, until
now, Erry claimed that its capacity was still below the JSX
requirement.

Erry also announced that JSX would suspend the trading of the
shares of 27 companies if they failed to submit their 2002
audited financial reports by the second week of June.

The 27 companies have violated the due date of annual report
submission which was set on March 31.

Among the 27 companies are PT Bank Lippo, PT Citra Marga
Nusaphala Persada, PT Indomobil Sukses Internasional, PT
Indofarma, PT Gajah Tunggal, PT GT Petrochem Industri, PT Argo
Pantes, PT Bukaka Tehnik Utama, PT Tri Polyta Indonesia and PT
Texmaco Perkasa Engineering.