Stocks plunge 3.2% amid heavy selling pressure

JAKARTA (JP): Share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) plunged further yesterday, losing 3.2 percent due to heavy selling pressure from foreign investors.

Securities brokers said foreign investors mostly sold their stocks during the first trading day of the new 1998/99 fiscal year, which began yesterday.

A broker with Harita Securities said that most foreign brokerage houses, including ING Barings Securities, Credit Lyonnais Securities, Jardine Fleming Nusantara and Merill Lynch Securities were all on the selling sides.

"Most foreign brokerage houses were net sellers in yesterday's trading," he said.

Securities analysts said the market feared that the talks between the International Monetary Fund (IMF) team and government officials would not deliver a concrete solution to the private sector's mounting offshore debt crisis.

"The market wants to see clear-cut measures to solve the country's debt-ridden companies," the analyst said.

The JSX Composite Index ended 17.48 points lower to close at 523.94 points yesterday.

Around 632.63 million shares changed hands on the regular market. Their value was Rp 749.10 billion (US$88.12 million).

As stock prices fell, the rupiah closed slightly firmer at 8,550 against the U.S. dollar on market expectation that talks between the IMF and the Indonesian government would reach a positive result this week.

Yesterday's close was 0.6 percent higher than Monday's close at 8,600.

The country's financial markets were closed Tuesday to mark the end of the 1997/1998 fiscal year.

A stronger U.S. dollar battered other stock markets in the region triggering selling on Tokyo's stock market, with the yen dipping to a near three-month low, and most other regional bourses following, dealers said.

In Tokyo, the key Nikkei stock average of 225 selected issues dropped 285.51 points to end at 16,241.66.

In Hong Kong, the key Hang Seng index lost 187.26 points to close at 11,331.42.

In Australia, the All Ordinaries index, rose 8.7 points to 2,752.9. The All Industrials index climbed 17.1 points to 4,719.1, while the All Resources index edged up 1.6 points to 1,184.5.

In Singapore, the benchmark Straits Times Industrials index fell 29.06 points to 1,600.12. The broader All-Singapore index fell 9.65 points to 409.49.

In Kuala Lumpur, the 100-share weighted composite index fell 19.47 points to end at 700.05.

In Bangkok, the Stock Exchange of Thailand (SET) broad based index fell 2.54 points to close at 456.57 points, while the SET 50 index of selected stocks dropped O.19 points to finish at 33.08 points.

In Manila, the Philippine Stock Exchange composite index shed 29.05 points to close at 2,209.37 points.

In Seoul, the composite index closed down 12.82 points at 468.22, the lowest of the day.

In Shanghai, the B share index lost 0.14 points to close at 53.83 points. The A share index of locally-traded stocks ended up 12.91 points, or 0.98 percent, at 1,324.96.

In Taipei, the Taiwan Stock Exchange weighted price index dropped 49.66 points to 9, 041.50.

In New Zealand, share prices rose 1.9 percent, with the NZSE- 40 index losing 44.45 points to close at 2,332.72.