Bank soars as Indonesia rebounds

A SPARKLING debut for

The strong start for the lender - which raised £201m - underscores resurgent interest in Jakarta as it edges towards greater economic stability, with steady growth and lower interest rates.

The bank's shares were priced at 675 rupiah, but bolted on opening to 825 rupiah. The IPO, in which 25% of the bank's shares were sold off, was heavily oversubscribed and the sale was done at just 1.06 times book value.

Bank Mandiri is itself a creation of the crisis, which hit Indonesia much more severely than any of its neighbours. It was formed in 1999 from the merger of four bust State-owned banks. It now claims a customer base of eight million and more than 600 branches. Assets are estimated at 260 trillion rupiah (£19.5bn).

Bulls say that the bank is a good bet for expansion, and a leading play to promote greater consolidation in what is still a fragmented but populous market. Indonesia has a population of 210m.

The spirited debut helped the market's lead benchmark, the Jakarta Composite index, despite a minor bomb blast in the national Parliament today. It gained 1.29 points or 0.25% at 525.98, a fresh 13-month high.

Interest in the country's banking sector was also highlighted by the recent investment by the Singapore government's investment arm, Temasek, in another leading lender, Danamon. It traded level today at 1325 rupiah.

In Japan, computer maker Fujitsu set a firmer tone, snapping three days of losses on the back of US stocks' better showing on Friday. After Hewlett-Packard helped Wall Street higher, Fujitsu benefited today from the stronger sentiment, rising five yen or 1% to 553.

Sony was also in play after financial weekly Barron's suggested that despite the company's lingering problems at its key electronics division, its US-listed shares may double in value over the next couple of years. Their Japanese counterparts rose 160 yen or 4.3% today to 3,830 yen.

The Nikkei 225, which suffered a hefty setback in the final session of last week, rebounded to close at 9755.63, up 120.28 points.

In South Korea, tech plays led the way although gains were capped ahead of quarterly figures due from US chip giant Intel tomorrow.

Samsung Electronics rose 12,500 won or 3.2% to 406,500 with hopes of a second-half revival set on the current quarter. Samsung shares bottomed out this year in February a little north of 260,000 won.

Posco was higher ahead of releasing figures for the just-completed quarter. The world's third largest steelmaker - up 2000 won at 131,500 - is a target for buyers seeking to ride China's booming economy. The Seoul Composite index climbed 13.53 points to 717.68, a gain of 1.9%.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng index rose above the 10,000 points barrier on hopes of continued growth in China and a US recovery. Global bank HSBC led the rise with an advance of 75 cents to HK$94.50, better by 0.8%. The index added 144.36 points or 1.5% at 10,055.86.