Jakarta Index Closes Lower

Jakarta, Dec 4 (Antara) - Indonesia`s benchmark stock index closed 1.12 percent lower on Wednesday afternoon on negative external sentiment. The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) fell 47.46 points to 4,241.40 points with index of 45 most liquid stocks down 1.46 percent to 703.78 points. Negative sentiment continue to come from the United States with the Fed expected to reduce its monetary incentive of bond buying program soon this month. Chief researcher of PT KDB Daewoo Securities, Bertrand Raynaldi, however, said technically, the decline in the BEI index was a still "healthy correction." The BEI index was still higher than the lower level limit of 4,191 points, Bertrand said. Trading at BEI on Wednesday recorded 123,761 transactions with 5.69 billion shares worth Rp4.05 trillion changing hands. Gainers were outnumbered by decliners by 91 to 145 with 110 stocks unchanged. Regional markets such as Hang Seng recorded a decline of 0.76 percent in index to 23,728.70 points with Nikkei-225 index down 2.17 percent to 15,407.94 points and that of Straits Times falling 0.95 percent to 3,157.99 points.