JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - Indonesian shares ended the morning session
higher on Monday supported by gains on Wall Street on Friday and the release of
strong-first quarter earnings by major local companies.
Trading volume was relatively thin with some cautious investors on the
sidelines ahead of the central bank's interest rate policy meeting tomorrow,
which was originally scheduled for Thursday.
On Friday the government said the consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.96
percent in April from a year ago and was up 0.57 percent from March, driven by a
rise in kerosene prices. In March, inflation rose 8.17 percent from a year
earlier and was up 0.95 percent from February.
The April CPI figure was largely within market expectations.
Most analysts do not expect the April inflation data to prompt a rate hike
by Bank Indonesia at tomorrow's monthly policy meeting. They said a rate hike
will not be the right prescription for reining in inflation at this time, which
is supply-led rather than demand-driven.
The composite index was up 29.67 points or 1.3 percent at 2,372.43.
Volume was 1.67 billion shares valued at 2.19 trillion rupiah.
The LQ-45 index was up 6.89 points at 510.70.
Gainers led decliners 114 to 57 with 52 stocks unchanged.
The Indonesian rupiah was trading at 9,228/9,235 to the U.S. dollar,
compared to 9,230/9,235 late on Friday.
roffie.kurniawan@thomsonreuters.com
.
hkp/ng
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