FRIDAY MORNING'S STOCK TRADING SUSPENSION CONSULTED WITH FINANCE MINISTER

Jakarta, Oct 10 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Stock Exchange (BEI) authority said it had postponed the reopening of the bourse's trading activity on Friday morning after consulting the finance minister so that the decision did not run counter to the government's wishes.

BEI trading director MS Sembiring said he was not afraid that the move would cause uncertainty in the market because Finance Minister Sri Mulyani Indrawati had confirmed earlier that share trading at the stock exchange would be resumed on Friday.

"I think the most important thing is to safeguard the market as a whole because things in global stock markets are developing rapidly," Sembiring said.

He said the BEI authority was continuously in consultation with all its members to view the latest developments in regional stock markets such as the Japan Stock Exchange and Hong Kong Stock Exchange which would soon close their fist trading session.

"Before the second session is opened, we will announce it," Sembiring said.

Finance Minister Sri Mulyani has said earlier that the government and Bank Indonesia (the central bank) supported BEI's plan to reopen trading on Friday after it was suspended in the middle of its first session on Wednesday, October 8.

At the time the BEI authority decided to shut share trading in the first session at 11:08 a.m. because the composite index had tumbled to 168.052 points or 10.38 percent to the level of 1,451,669 or the lowest level since September 2006.

Thursday through Friday morning trading was closed after the Dow Jones index at the New York Stock Exchange had dropped 678.91 points to 8,579.19 points, or to the lowest level since 2003.

The decline was triggered among others by a 38-percent fall in the General Motors shares price to US$4.76 per share.