JSX stock prices rise 2 percent, rupiah down
JSX stock prices rise 2 percent, rupiah down
JAKARTA (JP): Stock prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX)
rose 1.9 percent yesterday on the back of speculative buying of
selective stocks, brokers said.
The brokers said arbitrage trading in big capitalized stocks,
such as PT Telkom, PT Indosat and tin mining company PT Tambang
Timah, bolstered prices in the local bourses.
"There is no change in the trading pattern as offshore
investors continue to keep an upbeat sentiment on these stocks to
benefit from the weakening rupiah," one stockbroker with a joint-
venture securities firm said.
The broker said foreign brokerage houses such as Merrill Lynch
Indonesia, Credit Lyonnais Capital Indonesia, Indosuez WI Carr
and SBC Warburg Indonesia made big buying orders for their
offshore institutional clients for certain stocks.
Stockbrokers also said local brokerage houses like
Bahana Securities, Makindo and Danareksa Sekuritas were also
active yesterday in making buying orders for second-line stocks
with strong fundamentals.
Edhy Widjoyo, an analyst from Mashill Jaya Securities, said
stock prices over the past few weeks were largely determined by
the prices of Telkom, Indosat and Tambang Timah.
"These three stocks accounted for about 35 percent of the
total market capitalization in the Jakarta bourse," he said.
If prices of these stocks go up, the index strengthens, he
said.
Securities analysts said heated political and social tensions,
sparked by riots and unrest in several parts of the country over
the past several weeks, discouraged big foreign investors.
The JSX Composite Price index rose 9.8 points to close at
505.03 points yesterday with 579.51 million shares worth Rp 553
billion (US$58.16 million) changing hands on the regular market.
As stock prices rose, the rupiah fell against the U.S. dollar
in thin trading yesterday on uncertainty over the government's
plan to peg the rupiah at a fixed exchange rate against a foreign
currency, dealers said.
They said the rupiah, which opened at 9,100/9,300 in the
morning session, ended lower at 9,550/9,650 at yesterday's close.
"I think market confidence in the government has faded away
after waiting in vain for three weeks on the plan to peg the
rupiah at a fixed exchange rate," a head dealer of a joint-
venture bank said.
He said Singapore players, who have not been in the market
over the past two weeks over fears that Indonesia might adopt the
currency board system, reentered the market to make massive
dollar purchases in the market yesterday. (aly)