Jakarta shares tumble

Indonesian shares ended 3.86 percent lower on Thursday as a weak rupiah and falls across Asian markets prompted investors to take profits, dealers said. The Jakarta Composite Index lost 71.55 points to 1,779.78 in moderate trade. "There are fears that the so-called 'sell in May' trend started to occur from today, so most fund managers tried to cash in," a fund manager told Dow Jones Newswires.
He added that massive selling by foreign funds hurt overall sentiment. Foreigners were net sellers of 426.4 billion rupiah (40.9 million dollars) worth of shares. Coal miner Bumi Resources fell 11 percent to 1,950 rupiah, while rival Indotambang Raya lost 6.2 percent to 17,500. Telkom dropped 2.1 percent to 7,100 and Bank Negara Indonesia lost 3.9 percent to 1,450. The rupiah closed at 10,430 to the dollar compared with 10,345 at the last close.