The Indonesia Stock Exchange (tempo.co.id)

The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) opened lower on Monday following the conditions of global stock markets, as there is still uncertainty about the US Federal Reserve'€™s (Fed) policy on its benchmark interest rate.

The JCI weakened by 27.95 points or 0.64 percent to 4,352.36 while the index of the 45 most liquid stocks or LQ45 was down by 7.15 points (0.97 percent) to 733.21.

PT Valbury Asia Securities vice president Nico Omer Jonckheere said the US central bank'€™s decision to delay its fund rate hike had become one of the negative sentiments for the global stock markets, including the Indonesia Stock Exchange'€™s (IDX) JCI.

'€œThe delay of the US benchmark interest rate hike has prolonged uncertainties in the stock markets,'€ he said as quoted by Antara in Jakarta on Monday.

The analyst further said market players predicted that the Fed meeting in December would become a crucial period for business players and global financial markets.

Domestically, Nico said, the realization of the state expenditure up to Aug. 31 had reached Rp 1.05 quadrillion (US$72.7 billion) or 53.1 percent of the total expense ceiling at the 2015 revised state budget (APBN-P). Meanwhile, realized state revenue had reached Rp 867.5 trillion or 49.2 percent of the target on the APBN-P 2015.

'€œThe market players are hoping that an increase in the absorption of government expenses can become a catalyst for Indonesia'€™s economic improvement in the second semester of this year, so that it can open chances for the JCI to strengthen,'€ he said.

LBP Enterprise analyst Lucky Bayu Purnomo said sentiments in the global markets, which had variations, had pushed half of the domestic investors to secure their stock assets again, pushing the JCI to experience corrections.

'€œSome of the market players have also tended to limit transactions for a long term until there is a certain sentiment, especially from the Fed,'€ said Lucky.

In regional markets, the Hang Seng Index weakened by 293.33 points (1.34 percent) to 21,627.50; the Nikkei Index was down by 362.06 points (1.96 percent) to 18,070.21 and the Straits Times Index declined by 13.93 points (0.48 percent) to 2,865.66. (ebf)

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