Indonesia Bourse May Remain Stuck In Neutral On Monday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the Christmas break, the Indonesia stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping almost 110 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 8,540-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets calls for little movement with perhaps a touch of weakness in thin trade between the Christmas and New Year's holidays. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, telecoms and resource stocks.

For the day, the index sank 46.87 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 8,537.91 after trading between 8,525.10 and 8,611.33.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga fell 0.29 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia shed 0.47 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison dropped 0.83 percent, Indocement added 0.36 percent, Semen Indonesia jumped 1.52 percent, United Tractors lost 0.50 percent, Astra International rallied 1.92 percent, Energi Mega Persada sank 0.68 percent, Astra Agro Lestari stumbled 2.34 percent, Aneka Tambang advanced 0.94 percent, Vale Indonesia climbed 1.20 percent, Timah contracted 0.91 percent, Bumi Resources plummeted 4.74 percent and Bank Mandiri, Bank Danamon Indonesia, Bank Central Asia, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Indofood Sukses Makmur were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests slight consolidation as the major averages hugged the line on Friday and finished very slightly under water.

The Dow shed 29,19 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 48,710.97, while the NASDAQ slipped 20.21 points or 0.09 percent to close at 23,593.10 and the S&P 500 eased 2.11 points or 0.03 percent to end at 6,929.94.

For the week, the S&P 500 shot up 1.4 percent, while the Dow and the NASDAQ both jumped 1.2 percent.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came as many traders remained away from their desks following the Christmas Day holiday on Thursday, leading to below average trading activity.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves following the recent upward trend, which lifted the Dow and S&P 500 to new record closing highs.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Friday on supply concerns due to the intensifying conflict between the United States and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for February delivery was down $1.41 or 2.42 percent at $56.94 per barrel.