Indonesia Stock Market May Challenge Resistance At 6,900 Points

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sliding almost 60 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,840-point plateau and it's expected to find support on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to higher ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision and accompanying statement later today. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the financials and mixed performances from the cement and resource companies.

For the day, the index lost 33.14 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 6,839.34.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia sank 0.75 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia declined 1.61 percent, Bank Central Asia tanked 2.59 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia lost 0.65 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison spiked 2.09 percent, Indocement jumped 1.78 percent, Semen Indonesia soared 2.42 percent, Indofood Suskes skidded 1.10 percent, United Tractors plunged 2.77 percent, Astra International rallied 2.13 percent, Energi Mega Persada accelerated 3.23 percent, Astra Agro Lestari strengthened 1.23 percent, Aneka Tambang advanced 0.87 percent, Vale Indonesia improved 1.37 percent, Timah retreated 1.19 percent, Bumi Resources shed 0.65 percent and Bank Mandiri and Bank CIMB Niaga were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened roughly flat on Tuesday but moved steadily higher as the day progressed.

The Dow climbed 368.95 points or 1.09 percent to finish at 34,086.04, while the NASDAQ jumped 190.74 points or 1.67 percent to close at 11,584.55 and the S&P 500 advanced 58.83 points or 1.46 percent to end at 4,076.60.

Recent data has reinforced the view that the central bank will likely slow the pace of its monetary policy tightening later today and raise interest rate by only 25 basis points.

The central bank's accompanying statement will be in focus for clues about further interest rate hikes.

In economic news, the Labor Department said employment cost index wages in the U.S. increased at a slower pace in Q4, while the Institute for Supply Management said the Chicago PMI contracted for the fifth straight month.

Crude oil futures moved higher on Tuesday on expectations the Federal Reserve will hike interest rates at a slower pace, so the greenback might strengthen less than expected. West Texas International Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.97 or 1.3 percent at $78.87 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will provide December numbers for consumer prices later today; in November, inflation was up 0.66 percent on month and 5.51 percent on year.