Kolom ditulis David Sutyanto

  • High, Higher, Highest? An Overview of the Performance of Indonesia's IHSG

    Last week, Indonesia's main stock index (IHSG) moved remarkably well. The index managed to set a new record high at 5145.68 points on Friday (17/05/13) as it was pushed up by its strongest pillar of support, the consumer sector. Indonesia's consumer sector rose as much as 8.23 percent last week, while the largest obstacle to growth was the country's mining sector, which experienced a correction of 3.31 percent. What are the underlying reasons of last week's gain towards yet another record high? And is it sustainable?

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  • Records of Indonesia's and America's Indices Indicate Global Optimism

    Stock indices experienced a solid performance last week. In particular Indonesia's main stock index (IHSG) was up. Although Standards & Poor's downgrade of Indonesia's debt outlook has made many foreign investors decide to sell part of their Indonesian stock portfolios (last week about IDR 960 billion of foreign funds left the IHSG), the index did not fall. On the contrary, it reached a new record high level. So why did the index not fall? There are a number of reasons that explain this situation.

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  • The Influence of S&P's Outlook Downgrade on the Indonesia Stock Index (IHSG)

    The Jakarta composite index (IHSG), Indonesia's main stock index, was mixed last week. During the week it lost 53 points or 1.04 percent to finish at the level of 4,925.48. A number of blue chips, such as Bank Mandiri and Astra International, were hit by large sell-offs as the downgrade of S&P's debt outlook for Indonesia's BB+ rating kicked in and triggered serious negative market sentiments. Last week, I already discussed the 'Bloody May' phenomenon, the month that usually results in a correction.

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  • Bloody May; the Month that Brings Traditional Pressures on Indonesia's IHSG

    Last week Indonesia's main stock index (IHSG) was mixed with a weakening trend. The index lost 19.9 points, equivalent to 0.40 percent of its value. During the last month, the index consolidated within the range of 4,800 and 5,030 points. Foreign funds continued to pour in and trade volume remained high although below average trade in the last three weeks. In fact, our technical indicators are showing signs that Indonesia's main stock index has become saturated.

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  • Indonesia's Economic Growth Amid the Global Economic Slowdown

    Last week, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) published its World Economic Outlook (edition April 2013) titled "Hopes, Realities and Risks". In the report, the IMF lowered its forecast for global economic growth from an initial 3.5 percent (January edition) to 3.3 percent currently. Although the IMF lowered its economic forecasts for most countries (including emerging markets as a whole), it revised up its projection for the ASEAN-5 countries¹ by 0.3 percent to 5.9 percent.

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