The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) opened 22.15 points or 0.51 percent lower at 4,358.49 points with the index of 45 most liquid stocks down 0.77 percent to 725.49 points.
Chief researcher of Trust Securities Reza Priyambada said decling trend in the regional market put pressure on the BEI especially after the unexpected rise in Bank Indonesia benchmark interest rate from 7.25 percent to 7.5 percent on Tuesday.
Share sales would continue with the negative sentiment in the local and regional markets, he said.
PT Anugerah Securindo Indahs analyst Bertoni Rio said the rise in the BI Rate is expected to pile up pressure mainly on the banking , property , multifarious industries and trade sectors.
In addition weak rupiah would add to the pressure weakening the BEI index, Bertoni said.
Regional market such as Hang Seng recorded a 1.34 percent fall in index to 22,595.24 points with Nikkei-225 index down 0.42 percent to 14,526.79 points and that of Straits Times weakening 0.17 percent to 3,174.85 points .
Meanwhile rupiah tended to be stable trading at the level of 11,601 per US dollar in the first minutes of trading on Wednesday.
Reza Priyambada said the market players are still worried about the Fed cutting its monetary stimulus earlier than previously expected.
The worry over the Fed monetary stimulus policy still dominant in bringing down the rupiah value, Reza said.
There are, however, positive sentiments that kept rupiah stable with the euro tending to gain after reports of positive economic data from Germany and Italy, he said.
The currencies of developing economies including rupiah generally follow the trend of euro, he said.
The rise in the BI rate was not enough to protect rupiah from losing more value , he said.
Renny Eka Putri, a financial market analyst from Bank Mandiri said the expectation that the country would still suffer trade deficit until the end of this year also contribute to the pressure on rupiah.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2013
