JCI Opens in Red on Tuesday Morning
10 March 2015 15:28 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) at the Indonesian Stock Exchange slipped by 7.50 points or 0.14 percent to begin trading at 5,437.13 points on Tuesday morning, while the Top 45 (LQ45) Index similarly went down by 1.89 points or 0.20 percent to open at 944.65 points.
"Indonesia's domestic index is still shadowed by worries surrounding the rupiah's continued depreciation, which happens at the same time as an economic recovery in the US, as reflected by its improving employment figures," said the head of research of Valbury Asia Securities, Alfiansyah, in Jakarta on Tuesday.
Alfiansyah explained that the US added 295,000 jobs outside its farm payroll—exceeding analysts' expectations that pegged the figure at 240,000. This brings down US unemployment figure down to 5.5 percent in February from 5.7 percent in January.
"The US economy has managed to exceed the expectations of analysts and the market, which means that the US Federal Reserve might raise its fund rate earlier in the year, perhaps in June. This would make the US a more attractive place to invest, compared to other riskier economies," said Alfiansyah.
An analyst for Pefindo, Guntur Tri Haryanto, added that speculations surrounding the Federal Fund rate hike would make US dollar-denominated assets more attractive than investment instruments from riskier economies, which consequently will cause an outflow of capital into the US market.
That said, according to Haryanto, the Fed sentiment is only expected to last for a while—once it changes its fund rate, investors' focus will return to the economic fundamentals of developing nations, especially since these economies are growing at a considerable rate.
"Indonesia is expected to turn into a favorite destination for global players to invest in—this will drive the JCI into an uptrend in the longer run," said Hariyanto.
Meanwhile, across Asia, the Hang Seng Index slipped by 49.34 points or 0.20 percent to open at 24,073.71 points, the Nikkei rose by 71.94 points or 0.18 percent to commence trading at 18,863.07 points, and similarly the Straits Times Index climbed by 5.82 points or 0.18 percent to open at 3,411.50 points.
ANTARA
