Capital Market Observers Observe The Possibility Of False Trading On GoTo Shares

Photo: Doc. GoTo

JAKARTA - Capital market observers are paying close attention to the possibility of parties conducting pseudo-trading on the shares of PT GoTo Gojek Tokopedia Tbk, otherwise known as "frying stocks", to raise prices amidst the hectic discussion of potential losses of BUMN subsidiaries that inject funds into Gojek.

This allegation arose after GoTo's share price rose more than 100 percent in the one month period until June 14. At the same time, the daily trading value of GoTo shares was very high, reaching 1/6 (sixth) of the total transaction value of the 750 shares traded on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX).

Explanation of the chart above: GoTo's share price rose by 106.19 percent to Rp.400 per share within one month until June 14, 2022. In a quasi-transaction, the buyer and seller of shares are the same party or there is no transfer of shares.

While normal trading, it can be proven that investors (securities company customers) who transact are not the same. The Financial Services Authority (OJK) has the authority to investigate if there are allegations of quasi-transactions.

There was no significant fundamental improvement that underlies the large increase in GoTo's shares, according to Chandra Pasaribu, head of research at Yuanta Sekuritas.

"When the price of GoTo was depressed below Rp. 200, then it went up until it was past Rp. 400, did the fundamentals change, didn't it?" Chandra said in a chat with several journalists on Saturday, June 18.

"Looks like it, if we want to be honest," Chandra added when asked whether GoTo's shares underwent a pseudo-transaction.

Even so, Chandra emphasized that in the long term GoTo has good business prospects, and how good it is depends on how management can increase the monetization that can be made from the company's large income, even though the company is still making losses.

GoTo's share price touched its lowest point at IDR 194 per share on May 13, 2022, or a decline of 43 percent from the IPO price of IDR 338 per share.

Meanwhile, in the same month the state-owned company PT Telkom Indonesia (Persero) Tbk reported an unrealized loss of Rp.881 billion in the first quarter of 2022 financial statements, which was caused by an investment in GoTo shares through its subsidiary PT Telekomunikasi Selular. (Telkomsel).

Allegations of a conflict of interest emerged, various parties questioned whether Telkom's investment through its subsidiaries was really based on purely business considerations. Garibaldi Thohir, who serves as the President Commissioner of both Gojek and GoTo, has a brother and sister relationship with SOE Minister Erick Thohir.

General Chairperson of the Indonesian Transformation Movement (GET One) Lukman Edy said the accusation had no solid basis.

"All of this is intentionally fried by certain parties who want to link it to politics. Even though this is all purely business," Lukman said in his statement on May 20. In November 2020, Telkomsel injected funds into Gojek amounting to 150 million US dollars or around Rp. 2, 1 trillion at the exchange rate at that time. Then, in May 2021, this telecommunications operator again invested US$300 million or around Rp.4.2 trillion, and in the same month Gojek announced a merger with Tokopedia. They named themselves GoTo, which was then listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange on April 11, 2022.

"GoTo's stock price started to rebound from a slump when the issue of the loss of BUMN Telkom became a hot political issue. To reduce this pressure, GoTo's share price must rise," said John Rahmat, former head of research on SOE securities who graduated from the London Business School who switched careers to become investment manager.

"This is only the result of my personal observation. There is no evidence to base my opinion on this," added John, giving a disclaimer for his views on his Facebook comments.

Capital market observers' suspicions about the possibility of pseudo-transactions are reinforced by data on the daily transaction value of GoTo shares which is consistently very high.