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