Indonesia Stock Market May Open In The Red On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had dropped almost 140 points or 1.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,515-point plateau and it may hand back Tuesday's gains on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on renewed tariff concerns. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and cement companies, while the food and telecom sectors were soft and the resource companies were mixed.

For the day, the index added 50.54 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 7,515.19 after trading between 7,463.06 and 7,546.94.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rose 0.29 percent, while Bank Mandiri accelerated 2.81 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia strengthened 1.22 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia surged 5.24 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 1,81 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia improved 0.81 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison sank 0.45 percent, Indocement skyrocketed 8.60 percent, Semen Indonesia jumped 2.03 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur lost 0.60 percent, United Tractors shed 0.61 percent, Energi Mega Persada spiked 4.39 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rallied 2.22 percent, Aneka Tambang climbed 1.03 percent, Vale Indonesia tanked 2.12 percent, Timah retreated 1.49 percent, Bumi Resources advanced 0.90 percent and Astra International was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened slightly higher on Tuesday but quickly turned lower and spent the balance of the day in the red, closing near session lows.

The Dow slipped 61.90 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 44,111.74, while the NASDAQ sank 137.03 points or 0.65 percent to end at 20,916.55 and the S&P 500 dropped 30.75 points or 0.49 percent to close at 6,299.19.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street reflected ongoing trade concerns after President Donald Trump said he will be announcing new tariffs on semiconductors and chips as soon as next week. Trump said planned tariffs on pharmaceuticals imported into the U.S. could reach as high as 250 percent.

Negative sentiment was also have been generated by a report from the Institute for Supply Management that unexpectedly showed a modest slowdown in the pace of growth by U.S. service sector activity in the month of July.

Early in the session, stocks benefitted from a positive reaction to some of the latest earnings news, including upbeat quarterly results from software company Palantir (PLTR).

Crude oil prices fell on Tuesday amid US pressure on India to stop buying oil from Russia, as well as OPEC's recent decision to boost production. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery slumped $1.05 or 1.58 percent to $65.24 per barrel.