Jakarta Index Down On Stimulus Expectation

Jakarta, Nov 21 (Antara) - The Jakarta composite share price index opened lower on Wednesday on expectation that the Fed would soon cut its stimulus program. The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) fell 22.98 points or 0.53 percent to 4,327.81 points with index of 45 most liquid stocks down 0.81 percent to 721.22 points. "The majority of markets in Asia recorded a decline in index this morning including the BEI index on tapering worry," Samuel Sekuritas` analyst Yualdo Yudoprawiro, said. Yualdo said a meeting of the Fed leaders began to give rise to expectation that the Fed would soon cut its bond buying program in thye next several months on improvement in the US jobless data. He said the rupiah value that sank again to the level of 11,700 per US dollar also contributed to the pressure on the BEI index. "Sectors that are sensitive to rupiah fall are expected to be under pressure again such as cement, construction , property and consumer sectors," he said. Meanwhile, a team of technical analysts from Mandiri Sekuritas said the market worries over the Fed starting tapering earlier may lead to capital flights giving a negative sentiment to the market. "The BEI index is expected to hover around 4,300--4,406 points on Thursday," the team predicted. Regional markets such as Hang Seng recorded a 0.64 percent fall in index to 23,549.58 points with Nikkei-225 index up 1.58 percent to 15,315.28 points and that of Straits Times lost 0.51 percent to 3,168.42 points.