JAKARTA STOCKS CLOSE LOWER ON COMMODITY PRICE FALLS

Jakarta, Aug. 26 (ANTARA) - Commodity price declines in the global market created pressure on the Composite Stock Price Index (IHSG) at the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) here on Wednesday morning.

The Indonesian stocks closed 8.260 points of 0.35 percent lower at 2,372.261, and the LQ45 index weakened 2.290 points or 0.49 percent to 462.835.

The BEi index was affected by fluctuations in the world oil price which had lately stood at about US$71 per barrel, Krishna Dwi Setiawan, a research analyst of PT Valbury Asia Securities, said.

The oil price fall caused commodity prices to decrease at the global market, he said.

The commodity price drop triggered negative sentiments of commodity-based shares which later plunged.

Among commodity shares which surged and pressured the BEI index were Bakrie Plantation shares which went down Rp10 to Rp940, Indo Tambang Raya shares which weakened Rp400 to Rp24,700, Antam shares surged Rp25 to Rp2,475, Medco shares plunged Rp50 to Rp3,025 and London Sumatera shares that dropped Rp50 to Rp8,150.

The number of share transactions in morning trading reached 53,203 with a total of 4.304 billion shares traded at a total value of Rp1.845 trillion.

The transaction was dominated by 86 shares which lost, and only 79 shares which gained, 72 others remained static.

Earlier, the IHSG index at the Indonesian bourse on Wednesday morning opened slightly lower on profit taking moves.

The BEI index went down 0.07 percent or 0.948 points to 2,381.467 and the LQ-45 index fell 0.,13 percent or 0.561 points to 464.559.