Jakarta shares end higher on debt relief talk expectations

Jakarta shares end higher on debt relief talk expectations

Dow Jones, Jakarta

Indonesian shares extended their gains on Friday to end at yet another all-time closing high as expectations of debt relief following the tsunami disaster continued to support sentiment on the local bourse, dealers said.

Several countries have called for debt relief for nations badly affected by the disaster.

Profit-taking, however, trimmed most of the gains after the main index touched an intraday high of 1038.82 points.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index ended up 2.64 points, or 0.3 percent, at 1032.53 points.

Gainers led losers 85 to 57, with 73 stocks unchanged.

Volume stood at 2.6 billion shares valued at Rp 2.2 trillion.

Telecommunications stocks led the gains, with heavyweight Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) rising 3 percent to Rp 5,125, and its rival Indonesian Satellite Corp. (Indosat) gaining 2.4 percent to Rp 6,400.

Automotive concern Astra International gained 1 percent to Rp 9,800 after an official said on Thursday that its car sales rose 44 percent last year.

Cigarette maker Gudang Garam rose 3.3 percent to Rp 13,950. However, its rival HM Sampoerna fell 2.1 percent to Rp 6,950 on profit-taking.

Indofood, the world's largest instant noodle maker, dropped 1.2 percent to Rp 840 on news that it failed on Friday to get consent from bondholders to buy back $280 million of 5-year bonds issued by an overseas unit in 2002.

Bank shares were down as they are expected to be the hardest hit among listed companies by the tsunami disaster. The central bank has predicted that at least half of the Rp 4 trillion in total bank loans in Aceh are irrecoverable.

Bank Rakyat Indonesia, which has the most extensive branch network in the country, fell 4.4 percent to Rp 2,700, Bank Mandiri fell 2.4 percent to Rp 2,000, and Bank Central Asia dropped 4.1 percent to Rp 2,950.

Dealers expect profit-taking to emerge on Monday after this week's total 3 percent gain.

In currency market, the rupiah closed higher on fresh tsnuami- relief related inflows into the country, dealers said.

The local currency closed at Rp 9,285 per dollar, strengthened from its close on Thursday at Rp 9,315.

"We detected an inflow of fresh funds into the market today (Friday), which most likely were related for the humanitarian aid to Aceh," a dealer said.

Indonesia's Aceh was among the worst hit by the killer waves that destroyed Asia's southern coasts following a magnitude nine undersea earthquake on Dec 26.

The U.N. had said earlier that nearly $4 billion has been pledged to help the millions left homeless by the tsunami.

Several official lenders, including Japan, have called for a debt relief for the affected nations.

Dealers said that the rupiah also benefited from capital inflows into the local stock market, which gained over 3 percent this week.

Dealers expect the rupiah to trade between Rp 9,260 and Rp 9,340 a dollar on Monday.