Indonesia Bourse May Give Up 6,600-Point Level

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 85 points or 1.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 6,650-point plateau and it may take further damage on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to ongoing tariff concerns and their effect on the world economy. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares, food stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index shed 17.63 points or 0.26 percent to finish at 6,647.42 after trading between 6,618.54 and 6,707.39.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga skidded 1.19 percent, while Bank Mandiri tanked 2.87 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia retreated 1.62 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia slipped 0.22 percent, Bank Central Asia tumbled 1.64 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia declined 2.31 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia and Timah both shed 0.51 percent, Indocement rallied 2.78 percent, Semen Indonesia lost 0.43 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur weakened 2.34 percent, United Tractors slumped 1.28 percent, Astra International contracted 1.66 percent, Energi Mega Persada stumbled 2.26 percent, Astra Agro Lestari surrendered 1.73 percent, Aneka Tambang lost 0.65 percent, Jasa Marga dropped 1.02 percent, Vale Indonesia sank 0.78 percent, Bumi Resources plunged 3.09 percent and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red and continued to track lower throughout the session.

The Dow tumbled 537.36 points or 1.30 percent to finish at 40,813.57, while the NASDAQ dropped 345.44 points or 1.96 percent to close at 17.303.01 and the S&P 500 sank 77.78 points or 1.39 percent to end at 5,521.52.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid ongoing concerns about President Donald Trump's trade policies after he suggested the U.S. would respond to the European Union's countermeasures with even more tariffs.

In economic news, the Labor Department said producer prices in the U.S. were unexpectedly flat in February. Also, the Labor Department unexpectedly saw a modest decrease by first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Oil prices fell on Thursday amid prospects of excess supply in the market, and on concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.13 or 1.7 percent at $66.55 a barrel.