JAKARTA (Thomson Financial) - Indonesian shares closed the morning session higher on Tuesday with investors encouraged by Wall Street's overnight rise and the easing oil price.
Coal giant Bumi Resources led the rally on news that it is planning to buy back up to $239.87 million worth of shares, equivalent to 1 percent of its capital. The company will purchase the shares at a maximum price of 11,600 rupiah over the next year.
The easing oil price helped ease market fears about the government's planned fuel price hike, said Endang Purnama, a dealer at Panin Securities.
A fuel price hike will allow the government to cut its subsidy spending, which is now increasing due to the oil price spike. Indonesia still subsidizes the prices of premium gasoline and diesel oil for transportation, and kerosene for households use.
At midday, the composite index was up 40.60 points or 1.7 percent at 2,418.61 on volume of 2.02 billion shares worth 3.0 trillion rupiah ($324 million). The LQ45 index was up 10.63 points at 519.90.
Advancers led decliners 134 to 51, while 56 stocks were unchanged.
The rupiah was trading at 9,253/9,258 to the dollar against 9,255/9,260 late Monday.
Bumi Resources gained 4.1 percent to 6,250 rupiah, while tin miner Timah rose 3.2 percent to 34,100 rupiah on hopes it will benefit from the recent rise in tin prices.
Tin rose to a new all-time high of $25,000 a tonne on Monday as traders continued to bet that lower supply from major producers China and Indonesia will cause the market to tighten later this year.
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