Jakarta shares weaken

Jakarta share prices closed 2.0 percent lower for the second straight session on Friday as investors continued to lock in profits following recent record-setting rallies, dealers said.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index closed down 52.99 points to 2,563.75. The main index has now lost 103.52 points or 3.9 percent from its all-time intraday record of 2,667.27 set Thursday. For the week, the index lost 74.46 points or 2.8 percent. Volume was 3.62 billion shares worth 4.5 trillion rupiah (495.05 million dollars).
Decliners led advancers 163 to 41, while 36 stocks were unchanged. The Indonesian rupiah was trading at 9,082/9,090 to the dollar against 9,090/9,100 late Thursday. "The market's recent rise has been so steep so it is not surprising the fall was also steep," said Harry Su, an analyst with BNP Paribas.
He said year-to-date Jakarta has been one of the best performing markets in the Asian region. Su said he believes that the sell-offs were purely for profit-taking purposes and that there were no other specific reasons that could have scared away investors.
He said the recent crude oil price spike was not a key factor that triggered the selling pressure on the local bourse. "Our view is that the higher oil price is actually slightly positive for the economy provided that we can achieve our (oil) production target, which means that the country's oil production should remain at about one million barrels a day," he said.
A shortfall in production will prompt the state oil company Pertamina to import more fuel at higher cost, which in turn will push up government spending on fuel subsidy, which is paid to Pertamina for selling fuel below the commercial price.
Among the key losers, index heavyweight Telkom lost 350 rupiah to 11,800, Bank Mandiri fell 175 to 3,625 and Bank Central Asia fell 200 to 6,900. Some mining stocks managed to sustain their gains but closed off their highs. Coal giant Bumi Resources increased 25 to 4,675, off an intraday high of 4,750, and nickel miner Antam gained 50 to 3,250, off a high of 3,350.
Gas distributor Perusahaan Gas Negara ended flat at 13,550, off a high of 13,900, on news that the company has started the operation of a new gas pipeline that will enable transport of natural gas from the ConocoPhillips field in Grissik, South Sumatra.