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.