JSX rebounds three percent

JSX rebounds three percent

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) yesterday saw a recovery of 3 percent with trading dominated by local buying on big capital stocks, following a strong overnight rebound on Wall Street and positive regional market sentiment.

The JSX composite index jumped 16.32 points to close at 560.86 points after hitting a high of 565.37 points in morning trading.

Turnover was 81.16 million shares worth Rp 292.8 billion (US$125.9 million).

Advancing stocks outnumbered losers by 92 to 14, while 23 counters were unchanged.

A dealer with a foreign brokerage told The Jakarta Post that during the morning session, local buyers chased big stocks like Semen Gresik, HM Sampoerna, Gudang Garam and Telkom, as they might have perceived that there was a good buying opportunity on them.

"The JSX index closed the morning session 19.00 points higher. But profit taking by foreign investors in the afternoon pushed the index down three points," he said.

The dealer said that what happened yesterday was not a signal that the market is already stable.

Some foreign fund managers, according to the dealer, have decided to liquidate their portfolio in Indonesia for reinvestment in other countries which are now more attractive.

"As far as I know, many European fund managers were net buyers yesterday while non-European fund managers continued to sell because they remained upset with the new automotive deregulation," he added.

Telkom increased by Rp 175 to close at Rp 3,500 yesterday, Indosat by Rp 150 at Rp 8,100, Sampoerna by Rp 900 at Rp 22,800, Gudang Garam by Rp 850 at Rp 26,100, and Semen Gresik by Rp 75 at Rp 8,925.

Astra's foreign price closed Rp 100 higher at Rp 3,400, while its local price closed up Rp 150 at Rp 2,775. (08)