Sustained rally pushes shares up

Sustained rally pushes shares up

JAKARTA (JP): Sustained rally from the preceding week lifted
share prices on the Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) higher last
week.

Last Tuesday saw the index reaching the week's high of 457.33,
up by 2.8% from the week's opening. The upward momentum was
however cut short by heavy profit taking by local investors.

The JSX composite index closed last week at 453.31, up 7.93
points (1.78 percent) from the previous week's close of 445.38.

The price surge early in the week was stimulated by a strong
rise on Wall Street and bourses in the region.

Foreign investors took advantage of big cap stocks which were
considered grossly undervalued. There were strong buying
interests in Indocement after the company disclosed its plan to
sell its subsidiary Bogasari Flour Mills to Indofood, its major
subsidiary. The sale, expected to be financed through new share
issues, should boost Indocement earnings in 1995 through
Indofood. Minority shareholders of Indofood, however, showed
their objection of the deal by dumping Indofood shares on the
market. Further, conversion of Indofood Mandatory Exchangeable
Bonds into 139 million shares caused some uneasiness among
investors.

Pharmaceutical company Darya Varia was also bid up on old news
of an acquisition of another pharmaceutical company.

This week the market is expected to take a cautious attitude,
monitoring closely the reaction of Wall Street and the regional
bourses on U.S. inflation data expected to be released during the
week-end.

Average daily turnover on the regular board increased to
21.18 million shares worth Rp 70.68 billion (US$31.98 million)
last week from 16.16 million shares worth Rp 42.00 billion in the
previous week.

Last week's total turnover increased to 509.08 million shares
valued at Rp 1,199.83 billion from 110.22 million shares valued
at Rp 313.05 billion in the previous week.

Domestic players were mostly taking profit on gains from the
week before. The counters which were actively traded by domestic
players included Indosat, Kalbe Farma, BDNI, Indofood, Sampoerna,
Indocement, Japfa, Jababeka, Indosat, Indah Kiat, Sumalindo,
Dharmala Intiland, PSP and Duta Anggada.

Foreign players took positions mostly on selected large cap
stocks. Among foreign players, the attractive counters were
Indosat, BDNI, Indah Kiat, Tjiwi Kimia, BDNI, Sumalindo,
Sampoerna, JIHD, Darya Varia, Citra Marga, Indofood and
Indocement.

Some of last week's best performers were Darya Varia Lab (up
Rp 1,625), HM Sampoerna (up Rp 1,000), Indocement (up Rp 775),
Indosat (up Rp 525) and Indorayon (up Rp 500). The biggest losers
were Kabelindo (down Rp 1,700), Jaya Real Property (down Rp 550),
Ultra Jaya (down Rp 500), Panin Life and Medco Energi (down Rp
400 each).

Losers outnumbered gainers by 54 to 52, while 30 remained
unchanged.

-- Sigma Batara