BEI INDEX TUMBLES ON BLUE CHIP LOSSES

Jakarta, Aug. 5 (ANTARA) - Losses of blue chip shares at the Indonesian Stock Exchange here on Wednesday morning caused the Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) to tumble.

The BEI index went down 0.46 percent or 10.736 points and the LQ-45 index dropped 2.602 points or 0.53 percent to 460.513 points.

Investors believed it was the right time for them to take profit by releasing their blue chip shares, Ahmad Riyadi, a broker of PT Millennium Danatama Securities, said.

However, they did not sell their blue chip shares much as they were still cautious and waiting for further developments following a Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) report on the July inflation rate which was lower than that in the previous month, he said.

He also believed that the Indonesian stocks still had a chance to gain again as the share price's depreciation would not last long.

The global financial crisis which started to recover, boosted investors to trade actively in the capital market, especially because the difference of the rupiah interest rate from the US dollar interest rate was still high, he said.

"We predict that the foreign investors' interest in the domestic market is still big. So, the chance for the domestic share prices to climb again is there," he said.

Astra International shares weakened Rp600 to Rp30,450, BRI shares lost Rp200 to Rp7,400, Telkom share tumbled Rp150 to Rp8,650, Bukit Asam shares plunged Rp50 to Rp13,900 and Indosat shares dropped 50 to Rp5,600.