BEI INDEX OPENS LOWER ON WALL STREET FALLS

Jakarta, Jan 23 (ANTARA) - The Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) got off to a weak start Friday morning due to external factors.

The IHSG opened lower by 7.149 points at 1,320.17, and the LQ45 index dropped 2.070 points to 258.66.
In the first three minutes of the morning session, trading was still dominated by depreciated shares with 27 shares that lost, and seven that managed to advance, and seven which remained static.
PT Trimegah Securities in its daily research analysis said the Indonesian stocks opened lower Friday morning as investors' sentiment was affected by overnight Wall Street falls and a slump in regional bourses.
The analysis said that the external factor which was relatively prone to pressures because of the global financial recession and lack of positive sentiment, was a catalyst capable of pushing IHSG toward a negative territory.
U.S. stocks tumbled Thursday after Microsoft Corp. posted an 11 percent drop in profit. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 1.28 percent and the tech-dominated Nasdaq composite index declined 2.76 percent.
The benchmark Korea Composite Stock Price Index (KOSPI) fell 19.40 points, or 1.74 percent, to 1,096.97 in the first 15 minutes of trading on Friday.
Among shares which went down in the BEI were Aneka Tambang shares which plunged Rp20 to Rp1,080, Telecommunication Indonesia shares which tumbled Rp100 to Rp6,350, Indosat shares which dropped Rp50 to Rp5,700, Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) shares which lost Rp75 to Rp4,450, Elnusa shares which fell Rp2 to Rp119, and Bumi Resources shares which were down Rp20 to Rp490.
Meanwhile, the rupiah weakened against the US dollar in the Jakarta interbank spot market on Friday morning, due to a high demand for the greenback, while the supply was limited.
The Indonesian currency traded at Rp11,300/11,350 per US dollar, down 90 points from Rp11,210/11,220 in the market's close a day earlier.