IHSG Rises 4.94 Points, Following Asian Exchanges

Jakarta, Dec 19 (ANTARA) - The composite stock price index (IHSG) of the Indonesian stock exchange (BEI) opened 4.94 points higher on Wednesday, following the Asian stock exchanges, on hopes that the US fiscal cliff would be averted, said a market analyst. IHSG BEI rose 4.94 points or 0.11 percent to 4.306,38 points, and LQ45 increased 1.27 points or 0.17 percent to 737.1 points. "The stock exchanges, including BEI, opened higher this morning following the positive sentiment and cautious optimism on the fiscal cliff, on which an agreement is expected to be revealed before the end of this year," Samuel Security analyst Yualdo Yudoprawiro said here on Wednesday. He expressed hope that the fiscal cliff agreement would not lead to tax increases and spending cuts. "Thus, it will not bring economic losses," he noted. Yudoprawiro added that the optimism was able to compensate for the negative sentiment due to decreasing exports to Japan last November. He predicted that regional sentiments and the stable trade in rupiah would raise IHSG BEI by 4.356 points to the resistance level today. Meanwhile, the e-Trading research head Betrand Raynaldi has predicted that today`s IHSG BEI will trade within a range of 4.246-4.340 points. He recommended a number of stocks, including AKR Corporindo (AKRA), Japfa Comfeed (JPFA) and Ciputra Surya (TRS). The Hang Seng index rose 164.72 points or 0.73 percent to 22,659.45 points. The Nikkei-225 index increased by 115.38 points or 1.16 percent to 10.038.39 points, while Straits Times dropped by 2.21 points or 0.07 percent to 3,154.58 points.