Indonesian shares down; profit-taking in Telkom and Indosat
Indonesian shares down; profit-taking in Telkom and Indosat
Dow Jones, Jakarta
Indonesian shares ended lower on Monday mainly on profit- taking in Telekomunikasi Indonesia and Indonesian Satellite, dealers said.
Overall sentiment was weak, they said, adding that many local institutional funds started to take profit after the main index ended at a record closing high on Thursday. Indonesian markets were closed on Friday for a holiday.
"Selling, however, wasn't that heavy," said a trader at Kuo Capital Securities. He added that program buying in other select blue chips prevented the main index from sliding lower.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index ended down 5.030 points, or 0.5 percent, at 1030.717.
Decliners led gainers 74 to 35, with 73 stocks unchanged.
Volume was 1.3 billion shares valued at Rp 1.4 trillion, compared with 2.55 billion shares valued at Rp 2.00 trillion on Thursday.
Bellwether Telekomunikasi Indonesia fell 2 percent to Rp 4,850 and rival Indonesian Satellite dropped 1.6 percent to Rp 6,050 on profit-taking.
Profit taking also hit Bank Danamon, which fell 2.3 percent to Rp 4,175, and gold and nickel producer Aneka Tambang, which ended 1.1 percent lower at Rp 1,770.
However, Bank Mandiri, the nation's largest lender by assets, rose 1.6 percent to Rp 1,940 and cement maker Semen Gresik gained 0.5 percent to Rp 18,800 on program buying.
Dealers said they expect the market to trade lower on Tuesday on further profit-taking in telecommunication blue chips.
Indonesian rupiah closed slightly higher in range-bound trading on Monday, thanks to the dollar's lingering global weakness, dealers said.
The dollar closed at Rp 9,140, down from its close on Thursday at Rp 9,160 on Thursday. It traded between Rp 9,135 and Rp 9,155.
The local currency market was closed on Friday for a holiday.
Dealers said that offshore market participants were net dollar sellers as they expect the dollar's weakness to persist ahead of next month's G7 meeting in London.
Demand from local companies, however, helped trim the dollar's losses against the local unit, dealers said.
"Local companies were net dollar buyers as they need the currency to pay for offshore obligations at the end of the month," a dealer said.
Corporate debt repayment and rising imports have slowed the dollar's slide against the rupiah since the last quarter of 2004 despite strong capital inflows into the local stock market.
Dealers expect the dollar to trade between Rp 9,120 and Rp 9,160 on Tuesday.