Mild Upside Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - Ahead of Monday's Labor Day holiday, the Indonesia stock market had halted the three-day winning streak in which it had gathered more than 150 points or 2.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,915-point plateau and now it's looking at a steady start on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC's rate decision on Wednesday. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and mixed performances from the resource and cement sectors.

For the day, the index lost 29.76 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 6,915.72 after trading between 6,897.71 and 6,958.67.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga retreated 1.20 percent, while Bank Mandiri shed 0.48 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.36 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia lost 0.79 percent, Bank Central Asia skidded 1.09 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia dropped 0.97 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison spiked 2.04 percent, Indocement soared 3.33 percent, Semen Indonesia slumped 1.24 percent, Indofood Suskes rose 0.39 percent, United Tractors skyrocketed 16.11 percent, Astra International improved 0.75 percent, Energi Mega Persada tumbled 1.77 percent, Astra Agro Lestari climbed 0.98 percent, Aneka Tambang advanced 0.96 percent, Vale Indonesia surged 5.68 percent, Timah added 0.50 percent and Bumi Resources sank 0.82 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative after the major averages spent most of Monday in positive territory before a late slide saw them finish slightly in the red.

The Dow shed 46.46 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 34,051.70, while the NASDAQ lost 13.99 points or 0.11 percent to close at 12,212.60 and the S&P 500 eased 1.61 points or 0.04 percent to end at 4,167.87.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

While the Fed is widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis points, traders will pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

In economic news, the Institute for Supply Management said manufacturing activity contracted for the sixth straight month in April. Also, the Commerce Department reported an unexpected increase in U.S construction spending in March.

Crude oil prices tumbled on Monday, weighed down by concerns about economic growth and worries about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June sank $1.12 or 1.5 percent at $75.66 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will provide April figures for consumer prices later today; in March, inflation was up 0.18 percent on month and 4.97 percent on year.