---------------------------------------------------------- Visit Indonesia Daily News Online HomePage: http://www.indo-news.com/ Please Visit Our Sponsor http://www.indo-news.com/cgi-bin/ads1 ---------------------------------------------------------- Business Times [Singapore] 24 Jul 1999 JAKARTA Analysts call for caution on Indon stocks Interest rate jitters, domestic political uncertainty cited By Shoeb Kagda INVESTORS looking to buy Indonesian stocks should hold back as the stock market is headed south from here on, analysts told BT yesterday. Interest rate jitters in the United States and political uncertainty at home drove the Jakarta Stock Exchange Composite Index (JCI) down sharply yesterday to close at 625.8 points, a drop of 16.8 points or 2.6 per cent over Thursday's close. The rupiah also weakened yesterday, touching a low of 7,000 to the US dollar before recovering slightly to the 6,870 level. Ray Anthony, deputy head of research at GK Goh Ometraco, noted that the market has been trending down for the past week and is expected to fall further. "I don't think now is an ideal time to buy Indonesian stocks as there is considerable downside," he said. "If the political situation unravels further and the economic recovery stalls, the market could go the other way." Market sentiment had also turned negative following the euphoric rise in the JCI after the successful staging of the June 7 general elections. "People are now looking for reasons to sell as the reality of the political uncertainty ahead of the presidential elections is starting to sink in." Mr Anthony noted that investors would be better off trading the market rather than picking up any particular counter as both blue-chip stocks as well as second-liners have been hammered. Kelvin Long of BNP Prime Peregrine said that while the general tone of the market was negative, he believed it was temporary and that the index would find support at the 570 to 600 level. "The poor market sentiment is in line with the rest of the region," he noted. "It's a healthy consolidation before the next push, which will come once the political uncertainty is out of the way." David Chang, director of research at Trimegah Securities, predicted that the market will recover at the end of next month as the reporting season gets underway. Many companies will report better-than-expected results due to the strong rupiah in the second quarter and this will be reflected in their bottom lines. "This consolidation was needed but investors have to be cautious going forward as there is still a great deal of uncertainty," he said. ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Didistribusikan tgl. 24 Jul 1999 jam 07:52:57 GMT+1 oleh: Indonesia Daily News Online <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> http://www.Indo-News.com/ ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
