Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesia still needs to increase the number of local investors at its Stock Exchange (BEI) as their number is still small compared with, for example, those in Malaysia.

BEI president director Ito Warsito said here on Friday the number of local investors registered at the BEI Custodian (KSEI) had until now reached only 344.279 thousand.

"The number of our investors is still small compared to the number of our population as well as that of Malaysia," he said.

He believed the number of domestic investors would continue to increase in line with familiarization campaign carried out by BEI so far among students in big cities in the country.

"The youths are potential investors in the future," he said.

Ito said the participation of exchange members in the effort would help BEI increase the number of investors.

So far, he said, the number has actually increased quite high from that of the previous years.

The president director of PT OSK Nusadana Securities, Halim Susanto, said he would support BEI in its efforts to improve the younger generation`s knowledge of the capital market.

He said the efforts were taken among others through an on-line share trading competition among university students called OSK Investment Challenge Indonesia (campus edition).

He said the program was held to open the students` outlook on domestic capital market.

"The OSK Nusadana Securities just concluded the competition in the April-May period this year with an aim of netting new investors," he said.

A total of 7,113 students aged between 18 and 30 took part in the competition from universities across Indonesia. The OSK offered more than Rp360 million in prizes for individual and group categories.

"Here we gave an opportunity for students to learn and directly practice on how to conduct share transactions and invest in the capital market," he said.

He said he hoped the competition gave education to the younger generation on how to invest in the capital market.

"With the knowledge they will later know how important it is to invest among others through the capital market in the long term," he said.(*)

H-YH/HAJM

Editor: Jafar M Sidik
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