Jakarta Index Sups At The Opening On Friday

Jakarta, 16/1 (Antara) - The Jakarta composite index (JCI) slipped at the Friday`s opening on negative external sentiment. The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) fell 6.70 points or 0.13 percent to 5,182.01 with index of 45 most liquid stocks down 0.19 percent to 891.99. "The declining trend of US stock market was followed this morning by Asian markets including BEI," Samuel Sekuritas` analyst Tiesha Narandha Putri said. Tiesha said the US market fall was caused more by the result of s study by the Citigroup that US corporate income was not up to expectation. However, financial reports published by 12 of 16 US companies were better than estimate, she said. Meanwhile, the Indonesian government`s announcement to lower the price of subsidized oil fuel was expected to be considered positive by the market. "Therefore, we predicted the BEI would fare better than other regional market," she said. Head of Research of Valbury Asia Securities Alfiansyah said that the policy of Bank Indonesia maintaining its benchmark interest rate at 7.75% could serve to prop up the JCI. In addition, Asia Development Bank (ADB) spoke favorably for the government program to prioritizing infrastructure development, he said. ADB pledged to support the country by offering new loans for state companies to help finance priority projects. "The condition should open an opportunity for the JCI to climb," he said. Regional markets such as Hang Seng, Nikkei and Straits Times recorded a decline in indices.