Jakarta stocks under foreign selling pressure

Jakarta stocks under foreign selling pressure

JAKARTA (JP): Share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX)
dropped significantly last week, following the heavy selling
pressure from offshore investors on the last day of trading.

On Friday, the JSX Composite Index fell by almost three
percent during the first session before rebounding in the
afternoon trading. The index closed the week at 474.59, a drop of
13.73 points (2.8 percent) from the week's opening of 488.32.

The weak sentiment across regional markets also affected the
Indonesian stock market. In addition, the Mexican peso's plunge
on Thursday triggered even more selling pressure on Friday.
Foreign investors also worried about the increasing Indonesian
current account deficit that would presumably affect the
depreciation of the Indonesian currency.

On the first four days of the week, the stock market was
relatively quiet. The newly listed stock, Asahimas, made an
unimpressive debut on Wednesday. The stock only gained Rp 25 and
closed at Rp 2,475 (US$1.08) on that day. It dropped further and
closed the week at Rp 2,400.

Bhuwanatala Indah Permai came out as the largest gainer. The
stock reached a high of Rp 2,650 on Thursday and closed the week
at Rp 2,175, an increase of Rp 1,025. The stock jumped
drastically amid the announcement of a tender offer from Bhakti
Karya Indah Permai.

Separately, both Lippo Land and Bank Lippo came under modest
selling pressure following continued market rumors that Bank
Lippo might be facing financial difficulties.

The market will most likely remain weak this week. A weak
support level can be found at 472. Telkom's listing on Tuesday
night will be a major factor affecting the market sentiment as a
whole this week.

Local players were active last week, mostly on speculative
counters. The counters which were actively traded included
Bhuwanatala Indah Permai, Gajah Tunggal, BDNI, SMART, Asahimas,
Bank Lippo, Lippo Land and Dharmala Sakti

The foreign players were on the selling side last week. The
counters which saw active foreign trading were Semen Gresik,
Indosat and Astra International.

Average daily turnover on the regular board increased to 29.3
million shares worth Rp 78.1 billion (US$34.1 million) last week
from 20.8 million shares worth Rp 58.0 billion in the previous
week. Last week's total turnover also increased to 230.1 million
shares valued at Rp 716.5 billion from 180.6 million shares
valued at Rp 567.7 billion in the previous week.

Some of the best performers last week were Bhuwanatala Indah
Permai (up Rp 1,025), Langgeng Makmur (up Rp 300), Bank Tamara
(up Rp 275), Tifico (up Rp 250) and Indorama (up Rp 225). The
biggest losers were Modern Photo (down Rp 1,600), Asuransi
Ramayana (down Rp 1,525), Voksel Electric (down Rp 1,250), Toko
Gunung Agung and HM Sampoerna (each down Rp 800). Losers
outnumbered gainers by 100 to 33, while 30 counters remained
unchanged.

-- Sigma Batara