Jakarta share prices closed 1.31 percent lower on Wednesday, pressured by Wall Street's slide overnight and on mounting caution ahead of a two-day Federal Reserve meeting, dealers said.
The Jakarta Stock Exchange composite index closed down 28.204 points at 2,125.338 on volume of 3.34 billion shares valued at 3.22 trillion rupiah (352.88 million dollars). Decliners led gainers 162 to 34, with 47 stocks unchanged.
The rupiah weakened slightly to 9,115/9,125 to the dollar, compared to 9,075/9,085 late Tuesday. The weaker rupiah also added to the downward pressure, with big-cap stocks and mining issues taking the brunt of the selling.
State-run gas distributor Perusahaan Gas Negara was among the biggest fallers as investors were in doubt whether the company would raise its selling price for gas in August or not, Kurniawan said. An Energy and Mineral Resources Ministry official said Tuesday PGN's plan to hike the selling price of its natural gas for industrial users by 10 percent from August will require prior government approval.
PGN fell 450 rupiah or 4.46 percent to 9,650 while car assembler Astra International declined 400 to 16,700. Index heavyweight Telkom ended flat at 9,750, after hitting a high of 9,800 and a low of 9,650, while rival Indosat was also unchanged at 6,750.
Nickel miner Inco lost 1,300 rupiah to 56,700 and rival Aneka Tambang fell 150 to 12,700, while tin miner Timah was down 100 at 12,100 and coal producer Bukit Asam was also down 200 at 6,400.
Bumi Resources was unchanged at 2,175 rupiah, unaffected by its announcement that it has received payment of 1.1 billion dollars from India's largest private power producer, Tata Power, for the sale of its 30 percent stakes in five coal producing and trading subsidiaries.
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