bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

hooksAmpRedirectArticle

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

pdfFiles

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

readingTime

customTimezone

liveContents

SCMP Reporter

Regional stock markets came charging back yesterday, spurred by a rebound on Wall Street that also helped boost currencies.

  Having made spectacular losses on Monday, most equity markets U-turned and made strong gains, buoyed by growing hopes of a positive outcome to this week's talks in Jakarta.

 'The markets have absolutely no clue where the markets should be,' Deutsche Morgan Grenfell chief investment officer Andre Ruppli said.

 Even the traditionally staid Dow Jones Industrial Average is exhibiting Asia-style wild swings.

 The Dow dropped 130 points at the open on Monday on the back of Asian concerns, then suddenly charged back to close 0.88 per cent higher.

 'People were worried Wall St had lost its cool at the end of last week,' Henderson Investors Pacific investment director Michael Watt said.

 'They breathed a sigh of relief when it rebounded.'  The Singapore stock market, Monday's biggest loser tumbling 8.75 per cent, was one of yesterday's biggest gainers. The Straits Times Industrials Index recovered 7.74 per cent, with banking and property stocks retracing losses.

 The Jakarta Composite Index rebounded 9.11 per cent after President Suharto pledged to conform with International Monetary Fund-sponsored reforms.

 Malaysia's key index was another big gainer, shooting up 5.51 per cent.

 Turnover on the currency markets was relatively light, with many investors turning cautious, waiting anxiously to see what, if any, magic solution the United States, IMF and other international negotiators might be able to conjure up this week to remedy Indonesia's dire currency and debt crisis.

 IMF managing director Michel Camdessus is due to brief the press in Singapore today before heading on to Jakarta where an announcement on the outcome of this week's talks has been scheduled for tomorrow.

 Analysts warn of another massive market collapse if nothing other than placatory words emerge from the talks.

 'I hope it's concrete, because if it isn't we're going to be in dire straits,' Mr Ruppli said.

 'Everybody is cautious,' Jimmy Koh, a regional economist at Independent Economic Analysis, said. 'People are selling dollars if they long position and taking profits.

 'But if there is nothing concrete announced by the end of Thursday, my God!'   A number of big US banks, including Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan, were rumoured to be in Jakarta yesterday participating in debt rescheduling talks.

 Apart from straight-forward rescheduling, there are expectations that short-term corporate foreign debt in Indonesia may be repackaged as long-term bonds.

 This would hopefully halt the corporate scramble for US dollars to service foreign loans, which has driven the rupiah over the cliff.

 This solution has been successfully adopted in South Korea and halted the collapse of the won.

 Currency trading was more conservative yesterday, with the rupiah, baht, peso, ringgit and Singapore dollar all recovering from their Monday lows.

 'There was a note of caution,' one analyst said. 'People were standing back and watching, trying to come to terms with the implications of the crisis and the comings and goings of US and IMF officials in and out of Indonesia.' 



Stocks rebound, currencies firm as Wall St offers modicum of stability