Indonesia`s benchmark stock index continued to be on the decline in the last trading day of this week closing 15.24 points lower.

The index of the Indonesian Stock Exchange fell 0.33 percent to close on Friday at 4,658.87 points with index of 45 most liquid stock down 0.25 percent to 777.16.

"Foreign investors chose to sell shares resulting in the decline of the BEI index," chief researcher of Trust Securites Reza Priyambada said here on Friday.

Net sales by foreign investor reached Rp92.889 billion in value, Reza said, adding next week the share prices are expected to rise.

Sinarmas Sekuritas` analyst Christandi Rheza Mihardja said fear of current account deficit and rupiah fall continued to put pressure on the index.

The market trend next week will depend on Japanese data of retail sales and US consumer data, Christandi said.

There were 93,451 transactions on Friday involving 2.326 billion shares worth Rp3.009 trillion changing hands with decliners outnumbering gainers by 171 to 78.

Regional markets such as Hang Seng recorded 0.31 percent increase in index to 21,968.95 points with Nikkei-225 index down 2.97 percent to 14,129.98 points and that of Straits Times up 0.01 percent to 3,236.10 points.

Meanwhile, the Indonesian currency rupiah gained slightly against the US dollar on The Fed`s market optimism.

Rupiah closed at the level of 10,270 per dollar on Friday from 10,275 earlier in inter-bank transactions.

Samuel Sekuritas` economist Lana Soelistianingsih said foreign exchange swap auction at Bank Indonesia on Thursday was expected to shore up rupiah.

Lana said with the auction, the central bank is expected to increase its foreign exchange reserves by US$1.82 billion in a month

The auction was oversubscribed by US$1.49 billion with indicative target of US$600 million.