Indonesian shares outlook
04/21/08 09:27Indonesian shares outlook - Higher led by banks on earnings hopes
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian shares are expected to open higher on Monday led by banks on optimism they will report strong first-quarter results, with Wall Street's rally Friday also lifting sentiment.
"I expect the banking sector to be the main contributor to the market's rise today because key lenders like Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Central Asia are likely to report strong earnings in the first quarter," Mahakarya Artha Securities analyst Willy Sanjaya told Thomson Financial.
Banks are scheduled to start releasing their quarterly results this week.
Mining and energy companies are also likely to extend recent gains with higher commodity prices expected to lift earnings, said Sanjaya.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 1.8 percent higher at 12,849.36 on Friday as encouraging results from Citigroup and Google helped ease concerns about the U.S. economy.
The Jakarta composite index closed up 7.49 points or 0.3 percent at 2,349.27.
The LQ45 index gained 2.36 points at 506.48.
The rupiah was trading at 9,190/9,195 to the U.S. dollar early Monday, unchanged from late Friday.
