Stock Market In Indonesia Enjoys Lively Foreign Sales

BASJIRUDDIN SARIDA, director of the local Surabaya Stock Exchange, says some Asian exchanges have reached a new level of acceptance in the West.

``There seems to be a competition among the United States stock exchanges to gain influence in the growing Asia-Pacific money markets,'' Mr. Basjiruddin says. Investors are seeking new outlets now that earnings in Europe, Japan, and Korea have fallen, he adds.

This has prompted new flows of capital, especially from the US. About 70 percent of the value of the transactions on the Surabaya Stock Exchange in 1993 came from abroad, Basjiruddin says, particularly Japan and Hong Kong.

Local officials expect that two delegations of executives from the Chicago Stock Exchange will visit later this month. Hasan Jeffry, a prominent market watcher, says he hopes the new overseas relationships will have a positive affect on the quality of the operations and transactions on the Surabaya Stock Exchange.

Officials here plan to standardize the exchange's computerized electronic trading system and to improve its information services for investors.