Jakarta shares end at record high

Jakarta shares end at record high

Dow Jones, Jakarta

Indonesian shares ended higher on Tuesday, with buying in cement blue chips pushing the main index above the historical level of 1,000 points, dealers said.

Fund managers continued to snap up select blue chips to improve their books before year-end, but concerns over the rising death toll from the massive earthquake and tsunamis over the weekend prevented the main index from rising further, they said.

Emergency teams attempted to reach remote areas in Indonesia's quake and tsunami-devastated Sumatra Island Tuesday as the government estimated that up to 25,000 people on the island alone had been killed.

"Continued year-end window dressing, although not strong in terms of value, pushed the main index above its historical 1,000 level," said an analyst with Kuo Capital.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index ended up 6.401 points, or 0.6 percent, to hit a record high of 1,003.92.

Gainers led decliners 70 to 37, with 70 stocks unchanged.

Volume was 1.1 billion shares valued at Rp 845 billion, compared with 1.5 billion shares valued at Rp 936 billion on Monday.

Cement maker Indocement Tunggal Prakarsa jumped 10 percent to Rp 2,950, on expectations that the company's financial performance will improve next year on rising cement demand from local markets.

Indocement's rival Semen Gresik rose 2.2 percent to Rp 18,300, on expectations that the government will soon resolve its dispute with Mexico's Cemex over the control of the nation's largest cement company.

Also higher were shares in Bank Central Asia, which gained 1.7 percent at Rp 3,025 and Bank Danamon, which also ended up 1.7 percent at Rp 4,400 on year-end window dressing.

Shares in bellwether Telekomunikasi Indonesia succumbed to profit taking and expectations that the company will suffer losses from tsunami and earthquake that devastated telecommunication infrastructure in the regions.

Dealers said they expect the market Wednesday to trade higher on follow-through buying in cement blue chips.

Meanwhile, the rupiah ended lower Tuesday on dollar demand from local companies to repay foreign debt by the end of the year, dealers said.

The dollar closed at Rp 9,325, up from its close of Rp 9,305 Monday. The dollar hit an intraday low of Rp 9,275.

Companies seeking to pay maturing offshore debt and multinational corporations expatriating profits bought the U.S. unit.

Traders also attributed the weaker rupiah to concerns over the rising death toll from Sunday's massive earthquake and tsunami.

Emergency teams attempted to reach remote areas in Sumatra Island Tuesday as the government estimated that up to 25,000 people were killed on that island alone.

Dealers said the market shrugged off Finance Minister Yusuf Anwar's statement that the economy can "neutralize" the impact of the earthquake next year.

"There are still worries that the cost to rebuild the region devastated by the quake could hurt the state budget next year," said a trader with a foreign bank.

Dealers expect the dollar to trade between Rp 9,300 and Rp 9,350 Wednesday.