Indonesia Shares Tipped To Open Under Pressure

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last eight trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 110 points or 1.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,660-point plateau and it's expected to remain rangebound again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on renewed pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the food and financial shares and mixed performances from the cement and resource companies.

For the day, the index gained 40.02 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 8,660.50 after trading between 8,585.42 and 8,680.04.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rose 0.29 percent, while Bank Mandiri stumbled 2.63 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia perked 0.24 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia collected 0.28 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison sank 0.84 percent, Indocement climbed 1.10 percent, Semen Indonesia tanked 2.12 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rallied 3.04 percent, United Tractors tumbled 1.87 percent, Astra International spiked 2.33 percent, Energi Mega Persada skyrocketed 8.11 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.34 percent, Aneka Tambang surged 5.54 percent, Vale Indonesia shed 0.52 percent, Timah exploded 11.11 percent, Bumi Resources soared 2.22 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia and Bank Central Asia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the session underwater.

The Dow dropped 245.96 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 48,458.05, while the NASDAQ tumbled 398.69 points or 1.69 percent to close at 23,195.17 and the S&P 500 sank 73.59 points or 1.07 percent to end at 6,827.41.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.1 percent, the S&P 500 slid 0.6 percent and the NASDAQ dove 1.6 percent.

The weakness on Wall Street was fueled by losses on the NASDAQ, which saw heavy selling among the technology stocks on renewed concerns over valuations.

Weak sentiment was also generated by comments from Chicago Federal Reserve President Austan Goolsbee, who explained his decision to vote against cutting interest rates at last week's Fed meeting saying that more inflation data should have been necessary.

Crude oil prices weakened on Friday as traders kept an eye on the latest developments in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict and escalating tensions between the U.S. and Venezuela. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery fell $0.20 or 0.4 percent at $57.40 per barrel.