Mild Upside Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had surged almost 225 points or 3.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 6,860-point plateau although it's expected to open higher again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat, with support from the energy stocks likely offset by weakness from the technology companies. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to higher and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Monday as losses from the financials and cement stocks were mitigated by volatility from the resource and energy companies.

For the day, the index slumped 28.55 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 6,858.41.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia tumbled 1.98 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.50 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia slumped 1.30 percent, Bank Central Asia lost 0.34 percent, Bank Mandiri dropped 0.96 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia shed 0.47 percent, Indosat Ooredoo jumped 1.55 percent, Indocement surrendered 1.85 percent, Semen Indonesia fell 0.38 percent, Indofood Suskes slid 0.35 percent, United Tractors strengthened 1.66 percent, Energi Mega Persada skyrocketed 15.08 percent, Bakrie Sumatera Plantations soared 5.47 percent, Astra Agro Lestari skidded 1.05 percent, Aneka Tambang declined 1.40 percent, Vale Indonesia tanked 2.19 percent, Timah retreated 1.75 percent, Bumi Resources surged 8.14 percent and Astra International was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened flat on Monday and then bounced up and down throughout the session before finishing mixed.

The Dow climbed 90.75 points or 0.28 percent to finish at 31,990.04, while the NASDAQ lost 51.45 points or 0.43 percent to close at 11,782.67 and the S&P 500 rose 5.14 points or 0.13 percent to end at 3,966.77.

Trading activity was somewhat subdued as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

CME Group's FedWatch tool is currently indicating a 77.5 percent chance of a 75-basis point interest rate hike and a 22.5 percent chance of a 100-basis point rate hike.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher on Monday as concerns about outlook for energy demand eased, while the dollar's weakness ahead of the upcoming Fed statement also supported crude oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended higher by $2.00 or 2.1 percent at $96.70 a barrel.