Rupiah firm, stocks up amid regional weakness

JAKARTA (JP): The rupiah was stable yesterday as the local stock market gained ground amid regional weaknesses, dealers and brokers said.

Despite weak regional sentiment, rupiah remained stable yesterday as demand for the currency was quite strong among local players to meet weekly tax payments due Friday.

Spot rupiah closed at 2,978/2,983, compared with an opening of 2,970/2,980 and a low for the day of 2,989. Tomorrow and today rupiah closed at 2,970/2,982 and 2,981/2,984, respectively.

"The market was still very quiet and the volume was very thin. I think most players are already comfortable with their current position," said one local bank chief dealer.

Share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange gained 1.3 percent, with the composite index climbing 6.807 points to close at 531.079.

Unlike the two previous trading days, turnover was quite large yesterday, totaling 285.442 million shares valued at Rp 560.885 billion (US$188.2 million).

Stockbrokers said rising intraday trading activities by incidental investors had increased yesterday's trading volume and gains on some stocks.

They said investors entering the market yesterday did not really invest but made profits by intraday trading.

Vice president of Mashil Jaya Securities, Tjandra Kartika, said many long-term investors were still out of the market, waiting for the market to recover.

"Investors have lost confidence in the stock market... and the same holds true for other regional markets," Tjandra said.

He said most listed corporations had to revise down their earning forecast this year in the face of foreign exchange losses over the past few months.

Another analyst from a joint venture securities firm said some investors had switched from the equity market to money market as there were no fresh incentives for investors in the stock market.

Currency dealers said the rupiah would likely stabilize at the current level of between 2,900 and 3,000 against the U.S. dollar, as the trading band had been narrowed to five points in the past two weeks.

One state bank dealer said the rupiah had not weakened significantly even when the central bank cut its short-term SBI papers, especially the one-month and three-month SBI from 30 percent and 28 percent to 23 and 21 percent respectively.

"It proves that the rupiah has been stabilizing," he said.

As the rupiah stabilized, he said, Bank Indonesia (the central bank) continued to ease liquidity.

The central bank did not offer short-term securities (SBPUs) but offered SBIs through a daily auction of 14-day papers worth Rp 10 billion, with one-day settlement.

Overnight rupiah eased to 18 percent from between 25 percent and 28 percent. Overnight swap was at 2.5/3.0 and tom/next at 0.9/1.0 points.

Dealers said swap rates were steady, with some focus on one- month swaps. One-week swap was at 6.5/7.5, two-week at 13/15, one-month at 34/45, two at 71/78, three at 95/110, six at 200/215 and one-year at 365/385 points. (aly/rid)