Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The Jakarta composite index (JCI) extended gain closing higher on Monday with investors buying more than selling shares, analysts said.

The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) closed 40.1 points or 0.79 percent higher at 5,127.12 points with index of 45 most liquid stocks up 0.82 percent to 881.31 points.

"Investors were aggressive in buying shares driving up the JCI," HD Capitals analyst Yuganur Wijanarko said.

Yuganur said the investors were prompted to buy shares on expectation that the result of the presidential election would be announced without significant incident on July 22.

The presidential race is contested by Jakarta Governor Joko Widodo (Jokowi) with his running mate Jusuf Kalla and retired Lt. Gen. Prabowo Subianto and his running mate Hatta Rajasa.

The election commission (KPU) has said the result of the presidential election would be announced as scheduled despite threat of protest by the Prabowo camp, who lost the election according to quick counts by survey agencies.

Chief researcher of Trust Securities Reza Priyambada said there was a foreign net sales but small at Rp22.799 billion.

Trade on Monday was recorded with 233,820 transactions and 4.80 billion shares valued at Rp5.44 trillion changing hands.

Gainers outnumbered decliners by 229 to 93 shares with 92 share flat.

Regional markets such as Hang Seng and Nikkei recorded a decline in index with Straits Times gaining.

Meanwhile, rupiah gained in interbank transactions closing at the level of 11,559 per US dollar from 11,610 per dollar earlier.

"Rupiah regained value amid optimism that the result of the presidential election would be announced on Tuesday (July 22) as scheduled," chief researcher of Monex Investindo Futures Ariston Tjendra said. .

However, rupiah is still vulnerable with negative external sentiment because of the Ukraine crisis and Gaza conflicts, Ariston said.

The conflicts could trigger the "risk aversion" sentiment in the market prompting investors to keep safe haven currency like the US dollar, he added.

In addition, the US central bank plans to raise its interest rate if US economic data continued to show improvement.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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