Noodle firm helps boost the lackluster JSX market

By Sigma Batara

JAKARTA (JP): Indofood Sukses Makmur's debut on the Jakarta Stock Exchange last week provided a boost to the lackluster market, which has been on a drift for quite sometime. Further, the U.S. consumer price index rise of 0.3 percent in June came within analysts expectations and delayed the likelihood of another increase in the short term U.S. dollar interest rate.

This was reflected by persistent foreign buying during last week, which was followed by local investors. The reinvigorated market prompted active trading activities across the board, which was seen on counters such as BII, Indah Kiat, Indorayon, Tjiwi Kimia, Matahari, Astra International and Mulia Industrindo.

Although most trading activities were dominated by local investors, the end of the week saw foreign investors dominating the crossing board in terms of volume and frequency. The three- day bull run during the week pushed the JSX (Jakarta Stock Exchange) Composite Index up by 9.63 points to close at 461.83 over the previous week.

Average daily turnover on the regular board increased to 6.3 million shares worth Rp 25.45 billion (US$11.76 million), as compared to 4.7 million shares worth Rp 18.73 billion in the previous week. Total turnover for the week also increased to 81.50 million shares valued at Rp 378.50 billion from 49.85 million shares valued at Rp 227.83 billion in the previous week.

While some fund managers were still in the process of reducing their Indonesian portfolios, others were discreetly increasing their portfolios for the longer term. Trading was mostly conducted on the crossing board, while their target stocks included Mulia Industrindo, Indorayon, Indofood, Kabel Metal, Japfa, Ganda Wangsa, Bank Mashill, Putra Surya Perkasa, Astra International, Bank Int'l Ind., SMART Corp., Indah Kiat, Andayani, Gajah Tunggal, Argha Karya and Tjiwi Kimia.

Local institutions and speculators also started to enter the bourse, closely following foreign players. Aided by the listing of Indofood and the anticipation of better second-half earnings, local players considered many counters as undervalued. Their favorite stocks included Surabaya Agung, Indah Kiat, Ganda Wangsa, Indofood, Mayatexdian, Pan Brothers, Japfa, Tjiwi Kimia, BDNI, Modern Bank, Dharmala Intiland, Barito Pacific, Inco, Texmaco Jaya and Jakarta International Hotel.

The four bonus shares listed last week were Argo Pantes (1-for-4), Ekadharma (1-for-10), Fast Food (1-for-1) and Zebra Nusantara (1-for-2).

Among the week's best performers were Indofood SM (up Rp 1,525), HM Sampoerna (up Rp 1,300), Bank Int'l Ind. (up Rp 900), Sekar Bumi (up Rp 550) and Indorama (up Rp 500). The biggest losers were Unilever and Schering Plough (down Rp 500 each), Sumalindo Lestari (down Rp 450), Barito Pacific (down Rp 400) and Indocitra (down Rp 300). Gainers outnumbered losers by 55 to 43, while 17 remained unchanged.