Market

Genting Plantations Bhd, one of the largest plantation companies in the region, mainly because of Indonesian operations in recent years, has entered into two conditional separate sale and purchase agreements (SPAs) for the proposed acquisition worth RM593 million for parcels of land in Indonesia.

Prabowo Subianto will only be sworn in president three months from now, but the current government have granted luxury gifts already. After appointment of commissioners in major state companies, Jokowi administration, in this case state-owned enterprises minister Erick Thohir, gave more.

Astra International (ASII), the largest automotive player for decades, used to be the largest company on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) by market capitalisation. The stock was last traded at Rp4,460 to make market capitalisation of Rp180.6 trillion, not even half of its peak in 2017.

The State Budget 2025, which accommodates some signature programs of president elect Prabowo Subianto, is drafted to maintain a prudent fiscal management by keeping budget deficit target below 3% of GDP. The debt ratio will also be maintained below 40% of GDP. While Prabowo’s economic team (led by nephew Tommy Djiwandono) dismissed plans to push to the limits set by the laws, Hashim Djojohadikusumo (who already presented himself the next ‘Luhut’) told international media outlets recently that his brother will do so.

Coordinating minister for maritime and investment affairs Luhut Binsar Pandjaitan said Indonesia has the second most expensive airfare price in the world behind Brazil. In a bid to reduce the price, a special task force will pay attention to cost per block hour (CBH) of airlines. 

Shares of state telecommunications firm Telkom Indonesia (TLKM) fell by 1.86% to Rp3,160 on Monday (July 15), to market capitalization Rp313.03 trillion. The stock has fallen 32% from its last peak two years ago and valued less than twice its equity.

Indonesia recorded trade surplus of US$15.41 billion in the first half of 2024, down 22.6% from the corresponding period last year due to slowdown of export (-2.76%) and import (+0.84%). Export of non oil and gas products actually dropped nearly 3%, while import of non oil and gas down 0.5% in the period.

Shares of ESSA Industries Tbk (ESSA), a company engaged in the production of ammonia and LPG, gained 3.6% in the morning session Friday (Jul 12) as some investors responded positively the company’s financial report in the first half, where its net profit surged by 419% year-on-year to US$20.6 million.

Shares of petrochemical company Chandra Asri (TPIA), controlled by tycoon Prajogo Pangestu, ended higher by 3.3% to Rp9,500 on Wednesday (Jul 10) to make a market capitalisation of Rp822 trillion or US$50 billion. That means Chandra Asri is now bigger than two of the world’s largest chemical companies Dow Chemical (USA) and BASF AG (Germany).