Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian shares were higher in early trade on Wednesday, driven by the strong debut of the country's biggest ever initial public offering (IPO), PT Adaro Energy Tbk.
Adaro owns PT Adaro Indonesia, the country's second-biggest coal company after PT Bumi Resources.
Adaro raised about $1.3 billion from the IPO.
"There is no doubt that Adaro has sparked buying interest in other coal stocks and lifted the main index," Optima Securities analyst Arif Budiman told Thomson Financial.
Apart from the company's sound fundamentals that attracted people to buy Adaro, Budiman said the rally is also due to the limited number of shares available for trading.
At 0245 GMT, the Jakarta composite index was up 25.87 points or 1.2 percent at 2,240.72. The index has lost nearly 3 percent in the past two days.
Adaro surged 56 percent from its IPO price to 1,720 rupiah, making it the seventh-biggest stock in the Indonesian stock exchange by market capitalisation.
Rival Bumi Resources gained 1.4 percent to 7,000 rupiah after PT Antam pulled out its bid for Herald Resources, leaving the Australian base metals miner to Bumi.
Other coal companies also rose. Indo Tambangraya increased 0.5 percent to 33,200 rupiah and Bukit Asa advanced 1.4 percent to 14,700 rupiah. (*)
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