BEI INDEX OPENS LOWER ON AUTOMOTIVE, CIGARETTE LOSSES

Jakarta Forum - Jakarta, The Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) here on Tuesday morning got off to a weak start on automotive, cigarette and telecommunication share losses.
The BEI index went down 26.657 points or 1.08 percent to 2,449.025 points, and the LQ-45 index fell 6.288 points or 1.36 percent to 472.199 points.

Wall Street losses had affected investors at the BEI to sell their shares, according Krisna Dwi Setiawan, a research analyst of PT Valbury Asia Securities.

The sluggish regional stock markets had also affected the BEI negatively as investors released their shares for profit taking, he said.

"We predict that the BEI index will be under market pressure which tends to get stronger," he said.

Uncertain global condition was the main factor which caused Asian and European regional stock markets as well as Wall Street to weaken, which later also affected the BEI, he said.

However, he believed that the market slumping down would not last long because Indonesia was still considered more attractive market than other Asian countries.

Among top losers at the BEI were Astra shares that fell Rp500 to Rp33,150, Gudang Garam shares that lost Rp400 to Rp23,650, Bukit Asam shares that weakened Rp350 to Rp15,200, Astra Agro Lestari shares that declined to Rp22,900, Telkom shares that went down Rp150 to Rp18,800 and United Tractor shares that plunged Rp150 to Rp15,200.

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