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Shares of retailer PT Ramayana Lestari Sentosa climbed the most in five months in Jakarta trading on speculation that faster economic growth and new store openings would provide a boost to sales this year.

Ramayana, the nation’s biggest department-store operator by market value, jumped 11 percent to Rp 800 (9 cents) at midday break in Jakarta, the biggest intra-day advance since Aug. 25, before closing up 14 percent at Rp 820. The stock was biggest gainer by percentage on Monday.

Revenue will probably rise 10 percent this year compared with a 1 percent drop in 2009 on plans to open new outlets, the Jakarta-based department-store operator said on Wednesday. Easing inflation and low interest rates may spur consumer spending, which accounts for about two-thirds of Indonesia’s economy. The central bank has forecast the growth may accelerate to 5.5 percent this year.

“Ramayana’s main consumers are from the mid-to-low income group who will be more likely to spend their money if the economy is growing and their jobs are secure,” said Irvin Patmadiwiria, a fund manager at PT Lautandhana Investment Management in Jakarta, which holds stock in the store operator. “Analysts are seeing good growth potential for Ramayana.”

The retailer is looking at a potential rebound in same-store growth to a double digit rate this year, which would be faster than expected, CIMB-GK Securities’s Jakarta-based analyst Erwan Teguh wrote in a note on Friday.

Ramayana’s market value has grown 70 percent in the past year, trailing the 95 percent climb of the benchmark Jakarta Composite Index.

Bank Indonesia kept its key interest rate at a record low of 6.5 percent on Jan. 6 for a fifth straight month as December inflation held near a nine-year low of 2.78 percent. The central bank is not concerned about inflation in the first half of this year, senior deputy governor Darmin Nasution said on Jan. 6.



Bloomberg