JSX down o profit taking in Indosat, Lippo
JSX down o profit taking in Indosat, Lippo
Dow Jones, Jakarta
Indonesian shares ended lower on Friday on profit-taking in Indonesian Satellite and Bank Lippo after the main index gained over the past four sessions, dealers said.
"It's a fair technical correction after recent gains," said a trader with a foreign securities firm.
Dealers said news of suspected bird-flu cases in the capital also added to negative sentiment.
A man and his two daughters have died of suspected bird flu in Indonesia, authorities said Friday, and initial investigations showed they had no contact with poultry, raising concerns of possible human-to-human transmission.
The authorities have sent specimens to Hong Kong to confirm the results, which will take seven to 10 days.
"If it proves true that the case (of bird flu) is spreading here, I think it will continue to hit sentiment next week," said an analyst with BNI Securities.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange's Composite Index fell 5.11 points, or 0.5 percent, to 1,131.46.
Decliners led gainers 84 to 25, with 77 stocks unchanged. Volume was 2.5 billion shares valued at Rp 1.4 trillion, compared with 1.9 billion shares valued at Rp 1.5 trillion on Thursday.
Indonesian Satellite (Indosat) fell 3.7 percent to Rp 5,250 on profit-taking after gains early this week and on expectations that it will report lower first-half earnings due to higher costs of debt servicing.
Bank Lippo dropped 9.5 percent to Rp 1,490 on profit-taking after rising 20 percent over the previous four sessions on news that consortium Swissasia will sell a 52 percent stake in the bank.
Malaysia's Khazanah Nasional Bhd. is reported as the leading bidder for the Bank Lippo stake.
Also hit by profit-taking, cement maker Semen Gresik fell 1.5 percent to Rp 20,200.
Bucking the trend, bellwether Telekomunikasi Indonesia added 1.9 percent to Rp 5,250 on its plan to pay a dividend of Rp 152 a share to shareholders registered as of on Friday.
Dealers said they expect Indonesian shares to trade lower on Monday, led by selling in Telkom shares because it will be trading ex-dividend.
On the currency market, the rupiah ended higher as investors took profit in the U.S. currency after recent gains, with suspected central bank intervention providing support, dealers said,
The dollar closed at Rp 9,775, down from Rp 9,805 on Thursday. The dollar peaked at Rp 9,815 in intraday trading.
"The rupiah slightly recovered from its low on profit taking after the dollar's recent gains," said a trader with a state- owned bank. The dollar has risen 5 percent since the start of the year.
Dealers also attributed the stronger rupiah to suspected intervention by the central bank and the dollar's fall against the Japanese yen ahead of the long weekend in Japan.
Indonesia's central bank reiterated on Friday that the recent weakness of the rupiah is mostly due to global factors, and said it expects the trend to be temporary.
"The weakening of the rupiah isn't something specific to the rupiah. The Japanese yen has depreciated more than the rupiah," Bank Indonesia Senior Deputy Governor Miranda Gultom told reporters on the sidelines of the Euro-Asean conference in Kuala Lumpur.
Dealers expect the dollar to trade between Rp 9,760 and Rp 9,810 on Monday, with the rupiah likely to continue to strengthen on the back of continuous central bank intervention.