Jakarta Index Closes Lower on Tuesday

Jakarta, Jan 6 (Antara) - The Jakarta composite index continued to be on the decline closing 0.98 percent lower at 5,169.06 points on Tuesday. The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) fell 50.93 points with index of 45 most liquid stocks down 1.12 percent to 888.20 points. "The correction was natural after rally toward the end of 2014 until the opening day in 2015," Asjaya Indosurya Securities' analyst William Suryawijaya said. William said the pressure on the index was short term as the prospects are positive with the strong sentiment of the government's decision to boost development of infrastructure. The capital outflow from the share market is relatively small indicating foreign investors still have confidence in the country's economy. HD Capital's analyst Yuganur Wijanarko said the oil price fall to around US$50 per barrel was a boon allowing the government to funnel larger fund to infrastructure projects. Transactions in the BEI were recorded 2614,423 times with 5.09 billion shares worth Rp4.16 trillion changing hands. Decliners outnumbered gainers by 243 to 71 with 85 flat. Regional markets such as Hang Seng, Nikkei and Straits Times recorded a decline in indices. Meanwhile rupiah continued to lose more value trading at the level of 12,669 per US dollar from earlier level of 12,585 per dollar. The plan of the US central bank to raise its benchmark interest rate is still the negative factor for rupiah, PT Platon Niaga Berjangka's analyst Lukman Leong said. Poorer than expected performance of the country's economy in 2014 also contributed to the negative sentiment, Lukman said.