Jakarta shares finished at a record high on Tuesday as investors banked on a rosy outlook for Indonesian companies in 2005, analysts said. The rupiah currency also traded around a seven week high at 8,960/8.970 to the dollar earlier in the session before slipping back to around 9,000.
The Jakarta Composite Index jumped 1.42 percent to close at 901.38 points in fairly heavy trade estimated at 997.01 billion rupiah ($110.2 million).
It has risen more than 30 percent this year.
"The buying was partly due to the stronger rupiah currency. But some investors are also looking forward to 2005," said Trevor Gasman, an analyst at Samuel Sekuritas Indonesia.
Among the top gainers were Indonesia's second-largest telecommunications firm, PT Indonesian Satellite Corp Tbk (Indosat), which gained 2.88 percent to 5,350 rupiah.
An Indosat director told Reuters, in an interview on Tuesday the company could post revenue of 10.5 trillion rupiah ($1.17 billion) in 2004.
He said the firm's total cellular subscribers had reached 9.25 million, and a full year target of 9.5 million was in reach.
"I think that had an impact to its shareprice," Gasman said.
Shares of the world's largest instant noodle maker, PT Indofood Sukses Makmur Tbk, jumped 3.57 percent to 725 rupiah, following a Reuters report that its flour milling unit, Bogasari, hoped to boost exports to Japan by three-fold in 2005.
"I think such news should carry a positive impact," one local dealer said.
He said reports from other media about Bogasari's plan for an IPO in the second quarter of next year should help Indofood shares to gain further. Bogasari accounts for around 30 percent of Indofood's sales.
Although some profit taking is expected following recent gains, dealers said they remained optimistic about the outlook for the Jakarta market.
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