Share prices closed higher across the board last week

Share prices closed higher across the board last week

JAKARTA (JP): Driven largely by good performance in the
regional bourses, share prices closed higher across the board
last week. Buoyant trading by bargain hunters on a number of blue
chip stocks boosted the JSX (Jakarta Stock Exchange) Composite
Index early in the week. The index closed the week 4.19 points up
at 520.60. It appears that the market has reached its floor this
year, thus down-side potential looks minimal.

However, trading in the middle of the week was subdued due to
the Deepavali holiday in Singapore and overall weaker regional
market performances. The focus was on the listing of property
developer Duta Pertiwi, which booked in a high of Rp 4,000 on its
debut, a gain of 27 percent from its offering price of Rp 3,150.

Towards the end of the week, stock prices drifted lower with
local players cashing out on earlier gains. Overall, the market
should pick up along with the regional markets as more attention
is expected ahead of the APEC (Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation)
meeting in Jakarta this month.

Average daily turnover on the regular board decreased to
12.23m shares worth Rp 58.06 billion (US$26.55 million), as
compared to 12.32 million shares worth Rp 71.09 billion in the
previous week. Last week's total turnover for also decreased to
125.70 million shares valued at Rp 591.76 billion from 109.01
million shares valued at Rp 615.92 billion in the previous week.

Foreign investors were mostly seen active earlier last week.
There were strong interests in cigarette producers, Gudang Garam,
and Sampoerna, in anticipation of good third quarter earnings.
Investors were also strongly focused on property and banking
stocks such as Duta Pertiwi, JIHD, BDNI and Bank Danamon. Astra
International stocks rose at the end of the week following
stronger-than-expected results. Meanwhile, trading on Indosat
followed closely investors' interest on the New York Stock
Exchange.

Most local players cashed out of their positions due to weak
regional sentiment, concentrating on Indosat, Bank Danamon, BDNI,
Duta Pertiwi, Gadjah Tunggal, Astra Int'l, Barito, Indah Kiat and
property play JIHD.

Some of last week's best performers were Duta Pertiwi Realty
and Tigaraksa (up Rp 600 each), Aneka Kimia Raya (up Rp 475),
BDNI (up Rp 450) and Gudang Garam (up Rp 400). The biggest losers
were Surabaya Agung (down Rp 875), Unilever, Tembaga Mulia and
Sekar Laut (down Rp 500 each) and Bakrie Finance Corp (down Rp
400). Losers outnumbered gainers by 61 to 42, while 37 remained
unchanged.

-- Sigma Batara