[Kabar-indonesia] Jakarta shares up on interest rate hopes; Rupiah down at 9,094

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

Note: According to Reuters, the Rupiah was trading at
9,094.00, down form yesterday's close of 9,065

SE Asia Stocks - Jakarta up on interest rate hopes

SINGAPORE, Aug 1 (Reuters) - Southeast Asian stocks mostly fell on Tuesday, 
with Indonesian shares bucking the regional trend led by Telkom Indonesia and 
PT Astra Agro International Tbk on interest rate hopes. 

By midday, Indonesian stocks rose 0.68 percent, while Singapore's Straits 
Times Index and the Philippine index each lost 0.1 percent, Malaysian shares fell 
0.11 percent, and Thai shares were down 0.29 percent by 0449 GMT. 

In Indonesia, analysts said investors expect inflation to fall, paving the 
way for the central bank to lower interest rates and lift economic growth. 

"There are expectations of further loosening in monetary policy," said Ferry 
Yosia Hartoyo, the research head at DBS Vickers in Jakarta. 

Indonesia's annual inflation rate for July, due to be released on Tuesday at 
0630 GMT, is expected to have fallen, a Reuters poll showed. For details, 
please double-click on. 

Gains in Indonesia were led by Telkom Indonesia, the country's largest 
telecoms firm, which rose 2 percent, while Astra Agro International gained 3.1 
percent. 
 
Elsewhere, markets fell on fears of earnings downgrades, and as investors 
sold stocks ahead of companies' earnings reports. 

"There is still some downside on earnings which not everyone has factored in 
yet," said Lorraine Tan, research director at Standard & Poor's in Singapore. 
"We are still a bit wary of the market right now." 

In Singapore, shares in the city-state's second-biggest lender, United 
Overseas 
Bank, fell 0.6 percent ahead of its earnings announcement. The bank said 
during 
the lunch-break that its second-quarter profits more than doubled -- beating 
market forecasts -- thanks to big one-off gains. 

Singapore Airlines and SembCorp Industries , which will report their 
quarterly results later on Tuesday, dropped 1.5 percent and 1.2 percent respectively. 

Telecom stocks were among the top gainers in the region. Singapore 
Telecommunications rose 0.4 percent. 

Its Philippine associate Globe Telecom Inc led gains in Manila with a 3.1 
percent gain after reporting a 92 percent surge in quarterly profit on Tuesday. 
For details, please double-click on. 

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. gained 1 percent. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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