Most stock indices across the world continued to fall on Friday (26/06) on heightened concern that debt-ridden Greece will fail to reach an agreement with its international creditors. The deal is necessary for Greece to obtain bailout funds in order to avoid a default on its debt to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) due on 30 June 2015. A default could mean a Greek exit (Grexit) from the Eurozone and jeopardizes stability of the whole financial system of the region. Talks between both sides will continue into the weekend.

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The recently launched Investor33 Index has outperformed both the benchmark stock index of Indonesia (Jakarta Composite Index or IHSG), which contains all stocks that are listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange, and the LQ45 Index, a stock index which contains 45 Indonesian listed companies that fulfil certain criteria. In the first six months of 2014, the Investor33 Index climbed 16.36 percent, whereas the IHSG increased 14.14 percent and the LQ45 Index 15.68 percent.

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Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), the country's second-largest lender by market capitalization, will become the world's first bank that has its own communications satellite. On 28 April 2014, a contract was signed between Arianespace and BRI for the launch of the Indonesian satellite, which will be named BRIsat. The contract signing ceremony took place in Jakarta, and was witnessed by Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono as well as various other high positioned officials.

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Beritasatu Media Holdings in cooperation with the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) officially launched its Index Investor33 on Friday (21/03). This index consists of 33 listed companies at the IDX that share strong fundamentals, assessed through both technical and fundamental analyses. According to Hoesen, Director of Corporate Valuation at the IDX, the 33 companies have influenced the performance of the Jakarta Composite Index (Indonesia's benchmark stock index) considerably in recent years.

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Both the rupiah exchange rate and the Jakarta Composite Index strengthened significantly on Monday's trading day (13/01) after the government introduced a milder version of its mineral ore export ban on Sunday (12/01). Full implementation of the ban would have burdened the country's already wide current account deficit. The ban immediately pushed up the nickel and copper prices today. The central bank's Jakarta Interbank Spot Dollar Rate (JISDOR) rose 1.75 percent to IDR 12,047 per US dollar on Monday (13/01).

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On Tuesday (26/11), Bank Indonesia's mid rate depreciated 0.37 percent to IDR 11,765 per US dollar, which is the lowest level the currency has touched since March 2009. Main reason for today's decline is the government's US dollar-denominated bond auction yesterday (25/11) that fell USD $450 million short of its target. The bond issuance was negatively impacted by investors' concern about the looming scaling back of the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing program as US economic data improve.

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Despite Indonesia's macroeconomic conditions and liquidity experiencing a correction, Fitch Ratings believes that Indonesia's major banks are able to withstand a reasonably high degree of asset-quality stress, mainly due to the banks' strong standalone loss absorption cushions and likely support from highly rated foreign parent companies. Because of the banks' sound earnings buffers, they are expected to cope with the higher non-performing loans (NPLs) which are expected to emerge in the next one or two years ahead.

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The Federal Reserve's decision not to change its quantitative easing program seems to have led to a bullish market in Asia. Indonesia's benchmark stock index (IHSG) rose 4.37 percent to 4,658.2 points after the first session on Thursday's trading day (19/09). All sectoral indices were up, with the property sector in leading position. Big cap stocks, in particular, performed well. Investors are relieved that the Fed did not alter its stimulus program. Thus, funds are expected to continue flowing to emerging markets, including Indonesia.

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Indonesia Investments has updated the company profile of Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI), one of the leading commercial banks in Indonesia and the country's second largest lender by assets. The bank's business focus mainly lies on banking services in micro, small, and medium enterprises (MSME’s). BRI was a state-owned company until 2003 when it listed 30 percent of its shares on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX). It is currently one of the largest Indonesian companies in terms of market capitalization.

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In the period April-June 2013, at least 13 Indonesian companies are planning to pay the final dividends for book year 2012. It is expected that this number will rise in the weeks ahead as there are still companies that need to hold the annual general meeting (AGM), in which dividend payouts are decided. Last year, more than one hundred listed companies on the Indonesia Stock Exchange paid out dividends (of a total number of 462 listed companies at end 2012).

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Last week, I provided a basic introduction to investments in Indonesia's capital markets. Now, I will devote my column to the ten largest Indonesian companies by market capitalization. But first let me explain why I take the ten largest companies? Well, simply because these ten companies account for 43.71 percent of Indonesia's total market capitalization. In other words, they reflect almost half of the current condition of the country's capital markets.

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Indonesian commercial banks have shown good performance in recent years as economic growth of over six percent fuels loan demand from the people and businesses. Domestic consumption and investment are the two main drivers of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth. Together, these two components account for almost 90 percent of GDP. As such, lenders are in a comfortable position.

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