JCI Posts Record for 5th-Straight Day, Ending Third Quarter With 20% Gain

The Jakarta Composite Index climbed 5.83 points, or 0.2 percent, to 3,501.30, closing at a record for a fifth-straight day.

The index surged 14 percent in September, the steepest increase since July 2009. It gained 20 percent in the third quarter, the seventh-best performer among 91 benchmark indexes tracked by Bloomberg worldwide.

Jakarta racked up $1.42 billion of foreign buying in the third quarter, over three times more than in the previous quarter, Reuters reported.

Volume was heavy on Thursday, with 6.8 billion shares worth Rp 5.9 trillion ($660.8 million) changing hands. Losers edged out gainers, 119 to 113.

Astra Agro Lestari, the nation’s biggest listed plantation company, fell 3 percent to Rp 20,700, the sharpest decline since July 28. Credit Suisse Group AG analyst Teddy Oetomo said in a report on Wednesday there was a risk of “soft” palm oil prices in 2011. Astra Agro plants only oil palm trees.

Petrosea, a mining-services company, jumped 20 percent to Rp 27,600, the highest close since at least August 1991. Indika Energy may sell an 18.5 stake in Petrosea back to the public after acquiring most of the shares through a tender offer last year, Investor Daily Indonesia reported, citing an unidentified source. Indika gained 3.9 percent to Rp 3,325. Indika’s corporate secretary, Dedy Happy Hardi, could not be reached for confirmation.

Timah, the country’s largest tin producer, rose 11 percent to Rp 3,150, the highest close since Aug. 4, 2008. Tin futures climbed 1.4 percent to $24,325 a metric ton in London on Wednesday, the highest level since May 16, 2008. The contract was trading at $24,350 a ton on Thursday.

Tri Polyta Indonesia, producer of polypropylene, declined 5.8 percent to Rp 3,275 after the Business Competition Supervisory Commission (KPPU) asked the company to report on its plan to merge with Chandra Asri.

The rupiah strengthened for a fifth day on Thursday, touching its highest level against the US dollar since June 2007, and completing a sixth-straight quarterly gain.

The rupiah strengthened to 8,900 on Thursday before trading at 8,913 as of the stock market’s close. It has gained 1.5 percent this quarter and 5.2 percent this year.

“We are continuing to see inflows into Indonesian assets in line with the rest of the region,” said Emmanuel Ng, a currency strategist at Singapore’s Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp. “The official comfort level for the rupiah has increased a little bit as we are facing a broad weak-dollar story.”

Overseas investors have bought $647 million more Indonesian shares than they sold this month through Wednesday, boosting net purchases for the year to $2.3 billion. The economy is expected to expand by 6 percent in 2010, up from 4.55 percent last year.

The rupiah would probably be stable through year-end and there was a “slight” risk of depreciation in 2011, the central bank’s deputy governor, Hartadi Sarwono, said last week.

Inflation likely eased in September, and Bank Indonesia was “confident” with its benchmark interest rate at a historic low of 6.5 percent, its governor, Darmin Nasution, said on Wednesday.

Consumer prices probably rose 5.9 percent in September from a year earlier, compared with an increase of 6.4 percent in August, according to the median estimate of economists.