Rupiah and local stock market fall
JAKARTA (JP): The rupiah fell slightly to 7,600 against the U.S. dollar in late trading on Tuesday, down from Monday's close of 7,525 in line with a weakening in other regional currencies.
Securities analysts said that stock trading also followed the rupiah's downward trend, with most shares losing ground in thin trading.
Currency dealers said that moderate dollar demand from local banks coupled with a fall in the Japanese yen against the American dollar dragged the rupiah down.
"There was only light dollar selling by offshore operators, but fresh dollar demand from local banks put the rupiah under pressure," a chief dealer with a local private bank said.
The Japanese yen closed at 117.11 against the American dollar on Tuesday, slightly lower than its close of 115.52 in New York the previous day.
Currency dealers said that trading remained thin on Tuesday, with most market participants already taking square positions in the run-up to the year's end.
"On top of that, there was no fresh news to lift investors' sentiment," another dealer said.
Dealers said that the rupiah, which has hovered at around the 7,500 levels for the past few weeks, was expected trade at between 7,400 and 7,800 as the year comes to a close.
Share prices in the local market also declined on Tuesday, dropping almost one percent in response to a fall in Wall Street on Monday.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) fell 3.94 points to 400.76 on a total turnover of around 231.80 million shares valued at Rp 314.03 billion (US$41.31 million).
Losers outnumbered gainers by 51 to 32, with 107 stocks remaining unchanged.
Stockbrokers said that limited buying orders on second line stocks had propped up the market in the morning, but the sharp fall on Wall Street had reversed the trend in the late afternoon.
"The investors didn't have the steam to enter the market," Vonny Juwono, an institutional sales broker with Trimegah Securindolestari said.
Stock analysts said that anticipated window dressing operations ahead of the year's end were capped by sluggish sentiment in other regional equity markets.
"This prompted some investors to discard blue chip stocks they bought over the previous days," an analyst with BNI Securities said.
Most foreign brokerage firms, including GK GOH Ometraco, Merrill Lynch Indonesia, Jardine Fleming Nusantara and Credit Lyonnais Securities were net sellers on Tuesday.
Several blue chip stocks fell on Tuesday, with state-owned telecommunications firm PT Telkom's share prices sliding Rp 150 to Rp 2,725 on 18.86 million shares traded, the pulp and paper firm PT Tjiwi Kimia slid Rp 75 to Rp 2,200 on 10.05 million shares traded, cigarette maker PT HM Sampoerna fell Rp 50 to Rp 5,300 on 287,000 shares traded and mining firm PT Aneka Tambang slid Rp 25 to Rp 16,50 on 969,000 shares changing hands. (aly)