Hubert Neiss visit 'may influence JSX'
JAKARTA (JP): The planned meeting of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) director for Asia Pacific Hubert Neiss with the new Indonesian economic team early this week may influence the share trading on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX), according to security analysts.
They said market participants would closely watch how the meeting develops.
But they admitted that it would not significantly influence the JSX index.
"Investors have welcomed Neiss' visit and hope to see positive results of the meting for the market," an analyst said.
Neiss is expected to arrive here between Monday and Tuesday, and many speculate that he will resume talks on the review of Indonesia's economic program.
The review is a requirement for the IMF to disburse loans to Indonesia, which were suspended in September over the East Timor issue and the mishandling of the high profile Bank Bali scandal by the former administration.
Imamat Dalimunthe, executive director of Vickers Ballas Tamara, agreed there would be positive market sentiments stemming from Neiss' visit, but reminded investors not to have much expectations regarding loan disbursement.
"It was too soon to perceive Neiss' visit as an indication for the resumption of loan disbursements," he said.
He said that he believed the main purpose of Neiss' visit to Indonesia was to meet and congratulate the country's new President Abdurrahman Wahid and his Cabinet.
He said the IMF imposed a condition that Indonesia found difficult to meet, that is, publicly disclosing the full audit report of the Bank Bali scandal.
"There are no strong signs that the full audit report will be disclosed to the public any time soon. What we know now is that it will not be disclosed until mid-December. So the disbursement could still be a long time after Neiss' visit," he said.
Rudy Triyunanto, an analyst at state owned PT Bumi Daya Sekuritas, said early indications of the capabilities of the newly sworn-in Cabinet in carrying out their tasks would also be an influencing factor in this week's trading.
He said that Indonesia had reached a turning point from which it had to press ahead with good policy implementation.
He said foreign investors now had positive perceptions of Indonesia's political, social and economic developments after the country's successful democratic presidential election.
"We want to see the implementation of the already improved political and economic policies by the new government," he said.
Rudy said that the index would not be far away from the 600 point level.
"It may just be a little up and down from the 600 level this week," he said.
The JSX Composite Index decreased 1.7 percent to 593.86 points last week from 604.18 points in the previous week.
The average daily turnover last week decreased to 710 million shares, compared to 2.1 billion shares the previous week.
The average daily transaction value decreased to Rp 689.2 billion from Rp 1.8 trillion, during the presidential election week.
Last week's top gainers were PT Mulialand, up 40 percent, PT Fast Food Indonesia, which went up 34.88 percent, and PT Tancho Indonesia, which was up 22.22 percent by the end of the week.
The losers of the week were PT Centris Multi Persada with a 29.17 percent drop, PT Squibb Indonesia, which took a 27.69 percent tumble, and PT Suba Indah, which fell by 22.73 percent.
The top brokerage firms by transaction value were PT Vickers Ballas Tamara with Rp 442.4 billion, PT Danareksa Sekuritas with Rp 324.9 billion and PT ING Barring Securities, which did Rp 269.9 billion in business.
The rupiah closed flat at 6,903 to the U.S. dollar last week, as compared to its 6,900 close the previous week. (udi)