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)