AntaraJakarta (ANTARA) - The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) -- the main gauge of the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) -- opened higher on Thursday ahead of the announcement of the benchmark interest rate policy by Bank Indonesia (BI).
The JCI opened 16.56 points higher, or 0.26 percent, to 6,499.27, while the 45 leading stocks, or the LQ45 index, moved up 4.04 points, or 0.4 percent, to 1,024.43
Head of Research at Samuel Asset Management Lana Soelistianingsih remarked in Jakarta, Thursday, that BI, this afternoon, will likely keep the benchmark interest rate in line with the decision of the Federal Reserve (Fed) to hold interest rates.
"Today, BI will decide the 7Day Reverse Repo Rate policy at the Board of Governors' Meeting this Thursday, with the possibility of maintaining its 7DRR benchmark interest rate policy at six percent," Soelistianingsih noted.
He pointed to the macro conditions that are relatively still maintained, such as the inflation rate that remains low and also recorded a deflation in February 2019, the relatively stable movement of the rupiah, with low volatility, and other data that tends to remain stable, despite the ongoing transaction being still wide.
According to Soelistianingsih, with a fixed interest rate policy, BI also took into account Indonesia and the US interest rate, especially for ensuring that the bond market remained attractive in a bid to attract foreign funds into Indonesia.
"We expect that BI will tend to hold this benchmark interest rate in 2019," Soelistianingsih stated.
Asian regional exchanges including the Hang Seng Index rose 66.96 points, or 0.23 percent, to 29,387.93 and the Straits Times fell 0.19 points, or 0.01 percent, to 3,207.47.
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Translator: Eliswan Azly
Editor: Fardah Assegaf
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