Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Jakarta composite index (JCI) opened lower on Monday to follow the regional trend, analysts said.
The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) fell 13.08 points or 0.25 percent with index of 45 most liquid stocks down 0.37 percent to 899.81 points.
"The majority of markets in Asia recorded a decline in indices on worries over global economic condition after a number of advanced nation reported a slowdown in manufacturing data," chief researcher of Woori Korindo Securities Indonesia Reza Priyambada said.
In addition, Indonesia's macro economic data released by last weekend were not up to expectation with deficit in trade balance and inflation higher than previous estimate, Reza said.
The Central Bureau of Statistics (BPS) reported a trade deficit of US$420 million in November , 2014 after a surplus of US$23 million in October; and inflation in December was 2.46 percent, higher than Bank Indonesia's estimate of 2.1-2.2 percent.
He said the government's decision to cut the price of subsidized oil fuels (BBM) is expected to prevent an increase in inflation in the coming months.
The government cut the prices by of premium gasoline (RON 88) to Rp7,600 per liter from Rp8,500 and that of automotive diesel oil to Rp7,250 per liter on January 1 , 2015.
Regional markets such as Hang Seng , Nikkei and Straits Times recorded a decline in indices.
Meanwhile, in interbank transaction on Monday morning rupiah lost value against the US dollar trading at the level of 12,535 from 12,520 per dollar earlier.
Reza said rising expectation that the FED would raise its interest rate in mid 2015 was one of the factors causing the rupiah weakening.
The expectation that the FED would raise its interest rate in line with the original plan served a negative sentiment for the majority of currencies in Asia and Europe,he said.
The Indonesian macro economic data released by BPS not up to expectation also gave a negative sentiment for rupiah.
He said he hoped that the revision of Bank Indonesia regulation No16/21/PBI/2014 with a circular issued on 30 December 2014 on adoption of the prudential principles in the management of foreign debts is expected to help prevent rupiah from falling deeper. (WDY)
