Share trading likely to grain ground

Share trading likely to grain ground

JAKARTA (JP): The Jakarta stock market is expected to gain
ground this week as fears of riots in the capital eased as the
one-month election campaign ended Friday.

Analysts said investors were more confident to buy shares.

"With the conclusion of campaign activities, more foreign fund
managers will be upbeat about the market," Morgan Grenfell Asia
Indonesia Securities' analyst Adnan Tan said.

He said many foreign investors had stayed sidelined over the
past three weeks because they were worried about tension during
the election campaign.

Six people were killed and more than 100 injured on the last
day of the election campaign as shops, offices, and churches were
destroyed, reports said Saturday.

The number of deaths attributed to rallies staged by
supporters by the three political parties -- the dominant Golkar,
the Moslem-based United Development Party (PPP) and the
Indonesian Democratic Party (PDI) -- has risen to at least 132.

DBS Securities Indonesia said in its weekly report that the
May 29 elections would remain the focus.

DBS Securities said increased tension between the parties in
the past week could discourage buyers.

But DBS Securities said Indonesia's macroeconomic position was
indisputable strong.

The ranking of Indonesia as 15th in the Swiss-based World
Economic Forum's most competitive nations report would be
positive for Indonesian stocks.

The World Economic Forum's Global Competitiveness Report 1997
ranked Singapore, Hong Kong and the United States first, second
and third. Indonesia moved into 15th place, rising from 30th last
year.

Tan said blue chips stocks like Telkom, Indosat, Gudang Garam
and HM Sampoerna would remain targets for institutional buyers.

The JSX composite index closed almost unchanged at 658.52 last
week, up from 657.07 the week before.

Average daily volume dropped to 187.37 million shares last
week from 305.5 million shares the week before.

Average daily value fell to Rp 343.89 billion from Rp 572.68
billion.

Brokers said the drops were because the market was closed
Thursday for Buddha's Day of Enlightenment.

Blue chip stocks ended the week mixed.

Telkom was up Rp 25 to Rp 3,700, Indosat was steady at Rp 6,
800, cigarette maker HM Sampoerna was down Rp 225 to 9,475 while
rival Gudang Garam slipped Rp 125 to Rp 9,850.

In the banking sector BNI was unchanged at Rp 1,500, BII was
up Rp 75 to Rp 1,850 while BDNI was down Rp 75. (09)