The central bank of Indonesia (Bank Indonesia, BI) is expected to keep its benchmark interest rate (BI rate) at 7.50 percent at Thursday’s Board of Governors’ Meeting (14/08) as inflation has eased to 4.53 percent (year on year) in July while the country’s current account deficit may nearly double in the second quarter of 2014 to four percent of gross domestic product (GDP) from 2.06 percent of GDP in the previous quarter. Most analysts expect that Bank Indonesia will maintain the current BI rate for the remainder of 2014.

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Two giant Japan-based steel producers, Mitsubishi Steel Manufacturing and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corporation (NSSMC), will invest a total of USD $450 million in Indonesia for an acquisition as well as for the establishment of a special steel factory. Mitsubishi Steel is to purchase a 34 percent stake (worth USD $37 million) in Indonesian special long steel producer Jatim Steel Manufacturing, while NSSMC and Indonesia's largest steelmaker Krakatau Steel agreed to form a joint venture to produce automotive flat steel in Indonesia.

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Car sales in Indonesia fell 17 percent (month-on-month) in July 2014 to 91 thousand vehicles, while motorcycle sales plunged 28 percent to 539,171 over the same period. The main reason for this sharp decline is the limited number of working days in July due to the Lebaran holiday (also known as Idul Fitri and which marks the end of the Islamic fasting month of Ramadan). As a consequence of this public holiday, production of cars and motorcycles declined, and less cars and motorcycles could be distributed to Indonesian dealers (wholesalers).

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What is the most important corporate news from Indonesia on Monday 11 August 2014? Here we present the daily market roundup. This includes following companies: Unilever Indonesia, Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal Corp, Krakatau Steel, Bumi Resources, Humpuss Intermoda Transportasi, MNC Sky Vision, Kalbe Farma, Logindo Samudramakmur, Multi Bintang Beer, Sebuku Iron Lateritic Ores, the Sarulla Operation Limited consortium, Mandiri Tunas Finance, Bank Internasional Indonesia (BII), and the Kuala Namu-Tebing Tinggi Toll Road.

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