Rupiah ends steady despite importers dollar demand

Rupiah ends steady despite importers dollar demand

Dow Jones, Jakarta

The rupiah closed steady on Tuesday as dollar demand from
importers prevented the local unit from rising despite suspected
indirect intervention by Bank Indonesia, dealers said.

The dollar closed at Rp 9,545, little changed from Monday's
close of Rp 9,548.

Dealers said Bank Indonesia sold dollars via state banks,
pushing the greenback down to an intraday low of Rp 9,540.

The dollar's slide then triggered local importers to buy the
U.S. unit.

Indonesia's imports have increased steadily since last year
due to a pick up in the domestic economy and higher oil prices
globally.

Rising imports, along with payments of maturing offshore
debts, have been keeping dollar demand robust.

Dealers said market participants were reluctant to push the
dollar lower ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's meeting on
Tuesday in Washington, during which it is widely expected to
raise the fed funds target rate by another 25 basis points.

Dealers expect the dollar to trade between Rp 9,525 and Rp
9,590 Wednesday.

In the stock market meanwhile, share index ended higher on
late-session bargain-hunting in Bank Mandiri and Indonesian
Satellite, dealers said.

Several Asian markets rose following gains in the U.S. over
the previous two sessions, helping to improve sentiment on the
local bourse, dealers added.

"The market slightly recovered from last week's sharp losses,"
said a trader with a local securities firm.

After staying in negative territory for most of the session,
the Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index ended up 6.981 points,
or 0.7 percent, at 1033.50.

Gainers led decliners 74 to 34, with 224 stocks unchanged.

Volume was 860 million shares valued at Rp 938 billion,
compared with 730 million shares valued at Rp 668 billion on
Monday.

Bank Mandiri, the nation's largest lender by assets, gained
1.9 percent to Rp 1,620 as bargain-hunting emerged after sharp
declines last week due to a corruption investigation into the
bank's lending practices.

Expectations of higher 2004 dividend also boosted the bank's
shares.
Indonesian Satellite (Indosat) rose 2.3 percent to Rp 4,375 on
both bargain-hunting and expectations of solid first-quarter
earnings.

State-owned gas producer Perusahaan Gas Negara added 4.8
percent to Rp 2,750 on solid first-quarter earnings.

On the downside, Telekomunikasi Indonesia (Telkom) dropped 1.2
percent to Rp 4,175 after reporting lower-than-expected first-
quarter net profit on Monday due to foreign-exchange losses. The
result caused Telkom's ADRs in New York to fall 6.5 percent on
Monday.

Dealers said Telkom's decline prevented the main index from
rising further.

Dealers expect the market to trade higher on Wednesday on
continued buying in Bank Mandiri and other select bank blue
chips.