Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Jakarta composite share price index opened 17.39 points higher at 4,540.14 points on Wednesday to follow the regional trend.

The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) rose 0.39% from Tuesday`s closing level with index of 45 most liquid stocks gaining 0.59 percent to 762.87 points.

Chief researcher of Trust Securities Reza Priyambada said the majority of markets in Asia recorded gain on Wednesday morning.

"The short term increase of the BEI index was halted for sometime but regional sentiment was strong enough to push up the index," Reza said.

Chinese economic growth still gave positive sentiment to the regional market including BEI , he added.

The government`s commitment to improve the country`s economic performance also will give greater confidence of the market that would draw more investment, he said.

A team of technical analysts from Mandiri Sekuritas said the market sentiment is quite positive with the rupiah table against the US dollar despite strong selling pressure by foreign investors in the domestic market.

Regional markets such as Hang Seng recorded a 0.76 percent gain in index to 23,492.65 points with Nikkei-225 index up 0.20 percent and that of Straits Times up 0.72 percent to 3,233.69 points.

Meanwhile, the rupiah value remained flat against the US dollar in the first minute of trading on Wednesday.

The currency traded at the level of 10,905 per US dollar in interbank transactions

Rupiah tends to be stable but it has the potential to rise with US labor data not yet up to expectation that the market is optimistic The Fed would still maintain its monetary stimulus policy.

Delay in the stimulus tapering would give an opportunity for Indonesia to cut its balance of payment deficit and the foreign debt repayment budget would be reduced.

"Bank Indonesia also is expected to continue to protect rupiah and keep the rupiah stable in a bid to redress trade balance," he said.

Renny Eka Putri, a financial market analyst from Bank Mandiri said the US economy has not yet fully recovered giving strength to the majority currencies in the world including rupiah. (*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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