BEI INDEX OPENS SLIGHTLY HIGHER EARLY TUESDAY

Jakarta, June 2 (ANTARA) - The Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) here on Tuesday opened slightly higher on a Wall Street rally.

The BEI index went up 15.972 points or 0.80 percent to 2,014.552, while the LQ45 index jumped 3.988 points or 1.02 percent to 395.052 points.

The good news created a positive sentiment in Asian markets, according to an analysis by the Danareksa Research Institute here on Tuesday.

The takeover of General Motors by the US government and Canada and an increase in the world oil price bolstered the US bourse with the Dow Jones index closing 2.6 percent higher st 8,721, he said.

According to Danareksa, the optimism generated by the improvements in the global economy and the rally in the US bourse gave the Asian markets a positive boost. The Tokyo bourse with its Nikkei index gained 96.80 points or 1.0 percent to 9,774.55 in the first minutes of trading early Tuesday, while Straits Times stocks at the Singapore bourse also advanced 20.43 points or 0.86 percent to 2,400.510.

Meanwhile, Bayu Aji, a researcher at Panin Capital, told ANTARA that investors still hunted for commodity shares.

"Investors, especially foreign ones, are still hunting commodity shares," he said.

The factor of increase in the world commodity prices, especially the world oil price which reached the level of US$68 per barrel, caused commodity-based shares, especially mining and plantation shares, to continue to increase, according to Aji.

Bumi Resources shares advanced Rp75 to Rp2,225, mining company PT Inco shares added Rp50 to 4,375, Bakrie Plantation shares rose Rp10 to Rp830, and United Tractor shares went up Rp200 to Rp11,050.

Depreciated shares still dominated the market with 76 shares that managed to advance, only two that lost, and 30 that remained static.