Share end up on muted protests

Share end up on muted protests

Dow Jones, Jakarta

Indonesian shares ended higher on Friday on a combination of
investor relief that protests over a pending fuel price hike were
muted, and routine end-quarter window dressing by fund managers,
dealers said.

The Jakarta Stock Exchange's Composite Index ended up 2.95
percent, or 30.9 points, at 1079.275.

Gainers led decliners 137 to 17 with 43 stocks unchanged.
Volume rose to 4.2 billion shares valued at Rp 5.6 trillion
compared to 963 million shares valued at Rp 915 billion on
Thursday.

Shares rose across the board as threatened massive street
protests over a fuel price hike on Saturday failed to mobilize
significant numbers of demonstrators, a dealer said.

"The market accepted that demonstrations weren't going to be
too disruptive and that boosted sentiment," the dealer said.

Scattered protests occurred in different points of Jakarta on
Thursday, but were a fraction of the more than 10,000 people that
organizers had originally said.

Fuel price increases will lessen the burden of fuel price
subsidies which cost the government $7.4 billion, or 3 percent of
gross domestic product, in 2004.

Cyclical window dressing, in which fund managers buy up shares
of selected companies in their portfolios to help boost the net
asset value of that portfolio, also boosted the index.

"The other reason for the market's rise is the fact that it's
the end of the quarter and we saw fund manager's window dressing
share purchases," a dealer said.

Blue chip stocks across all sectors ended up on Friday.

Automaker Astra International ended up 7.14 percent at Rp
9,750, while copper and gold mining giant Aneka Tambang added
5.83 percent to Rp 2,725.

Bank Mandiri climbed 4.32 percent to Rp 1,450 and Bank Danamon
Indonesia closed up 2.55 percent at Rp 4,025.

Mobile phone operator Excelcomindo Pratama added 5.43 percent
to Rp 2,425, a deceleration from the 15 percent rise it saw on in
its Jakarta bourse debut on Thursday.

Dealers say the size of the pending fuel price increase and
public reaction to it will determine how the market will move
next week, but continuing positive sentiment may help the Jakarta
Stock Exchange Composite Index to test the 1100 level in early
week trade.

Elsewhere, the rupiah ended nearly flat on Friday as month-end
dollar demand from local companies erased the rupiah's earlier
gains, dealers said.

The dollar closed at Rp 10,290, little changed from its close
on Thursday at Rp 10,295.

The greenback fell to an intraday low of Rp 10,190 earlier in
the day due to capital inflows into the local stock market.

Foreign investors bought back Indonesian shares on Thursday
and Friday as street protests against the government's plan to
hike fuel prices starting this weekend remained generally
peaceful.

Dealers said interbank market players also unwound their long
positions on the dollar, dragging it lower early Friday.

But local companies who need dollars to pay maturing offshore
obligations entered the market in late afternoon trade, pushing
the U.S. unit back almost to its Thursday closing level.

Dealers said the market will closely watch public reaction to
the fuel price hike.

"It is hard to predict the market next week, as it will
largely depend on public reaction to the new fuel prices," a
dealer with a foreign bank said.

Analysts expect street protests to continue next week, but to
lose steam from Wednesday when the Ramadhan Muslim fasting month
begins.