JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) – Indonesian shares were lower in early trade Tuesday, with Wall Street’s pullback overnight encouraging market players to cash in gains following the rally of the past five trading days.
Cautious traders also reduced their positions ahead of the central bank’s rate decision announcement at midday today.
The central bank’s benchmark BI rate currently stands at 8 percent.
Most analysts are not expecting Bank Indonesia to announce a rate hike even with April inflation remaining high. They said a rate hike will not be the right tool to rein in rising inflation at this time, especially since the rise in prices has been supply-led rather than demand-driven.
Indonesia’s consumer price index (CPI) rose 8.96 percent in April from a year ago and was up 0.57 percent from March.
‘I would say the decline on Wall Street overnight and some regional markets this morning were taken by investors as an excuse to lock in profits following the strong rally recently,’ Kresna Securindo analyst Gifar Indra Sakti said.
He said market players were also concerned about the government’s plan to raise the subsidized fuel price.
‘The impact of the planned fuel price rise on the economy and corporate earnings this year will depend on the magnitude of the price rise. One thing that is certain is that the plan has added an uncertainty factor to the market,’ Sakti said.
At 9.57 a.m. (0257 GMT), the composite index was down 19.55 points or 0.8 percent at 2,368.
The LQ-45 index was down 5.08 points at 509.37.
Among key decliners, gas distributor Perusahaan Gas Negara lost 0.8 percent to 12,500 rupiah, nickel producer Inco fell 2.2 percent to 6,550 rupiah, Bank Rakyat Indonesia fell 4.4 percent to 6,600 rupiah, and Indonesia’s largest bank by assets, Bank Mandiri, lost 2.4 percent to 3,000 rupiah.