The soaring price of oil in the world market had mainly been responsible for the negative sentiments on the Jakarta Composite Index in the past weeks.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Indonesian stocks edged up at the market`s close on Tuesday as oil prices slid along a descending trend after weeks of surging following political upheavals in the Middle East and North African countries that had dampened sentiment on the Jakarta Composite Index.

Jakarta Stock Exchange (JSX) director for corporate evaluation Eddy Sugito said on Tuesday, the soaring price of oil in the world market had mainly been responsible for the negative sentiments on the Jakarta Composite Index in the past weeks.

"The oil price sure had its impact on the Jakarta Composite Index, but it will not always be the case. Crude oil price hikes will usually be bad news for most companies as they increase production costs," Sugito said, adding that oil producing countries had already made commitments at certain price level.

He added that a stabilized price of crude oil is also in the interest of the producing countries as there no people would buy oil if its price continued tr soar.

Thus, as the price of crude had edged down to almost under 100 US dollars per barrel since early this week, the positive impact was already being felt in global bourses, including at the JSX, Sugito said.

Separately, stock market observer Ahmad Riyadi of Millenium Danatama Sekuritas said investors had remained on the sidelines as they were wary of the skyrocketing oil price in past weeks.

"In addition to the projected stabilization of oil price, the Jakarta Composite Index`s bullish potential this week will also be prodded by companies` releases of their financial reports beginning in early March," said Riyadi.

Reports on a lowered inflation for February compared to January, he said, will become another encouraging aspect pushing the index up as the country`s debt rating has been lifting up to BB+ on stable outlook to the category of positive outlook BB+ by Fitch rating since end of last week, he concluded.(*)

Editor: Heru Purwanto
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