Jakarta Composite Index Opens Higher

Jakarta, March 28 (Antara) - The Jakarta composite index opened higher on Friday on expectation the country`s economy would expand. The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) rose 14.58 points or 0.31 percent to 4,737.63 points in the opening trade with the index of 45 most liquid stocks up 0.53 percent to 795.45. "The market expectation of the country`s economy is still high pushing up the BEI index," Kresna Securities` analyst Etta Rusdiana Putra said. Etta said the country`s inflation in March which is to be announced next week is expected to decline to 7.4 percent year-on-year. Trade in February was also expected to give a surplus or at least US$210 million, she said. "With the market optimism , we predict the BEI index would hover around 4,700-4,760 points today," she said. Meanwhile, Sinarmas Sekuritas` analyst Christandi Rheza Mihardja said the tension on the Ukraine and Russian border would still cause a negative sentiment in the global market. Regional markets such as Hang Seng gained 0.86 percent in index to 22,021.21 with Nikkei index up 0.17 percent to 14,647.02 and that of Straits Times rising 0.54 percent to 3,179.71 points . Meanwhile, rupiah in interbank transactions traded at the level of 11,350 per US dollar in the Friday`s morning session or unchanged from Thursday`s closing.