Renewed Support Called For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Monday snapped the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 70 points or 1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,090-point plateau although it's expected to rebound on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on optimism for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Monday following heavy losses from the resource stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and cement companies.

For the day, the index dropped 70.81 points or 0.99 percent to finish at 7,088.79 after trading between 7,045.17 and 7,153.12.

Among the actives, Bank Mandiri collected 1.32 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia stumbled 1.80 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia spiked 1.97 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slumped 1.40 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison sank 0.80 percent, Indocement added 0.53 percent, Semen Indonesia plunged 2.78 percent, Indofood Suskes shed 0.39 percent, United Tractors tanked 2.13 percent, Astra International retreated 1.32 percent, Energi Mega Persada jumped 1.85 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.35 percent, Aneka Tambang tumbled 1.78 percent, Vale Indonesia surrendered 3.90 percent, Timah declined 3.12 percent, Bumi Resources plummeted 6.19 percent and Bank Central Asia, Bank CIMB Niaga and Perusahaan Gas Negara were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is modestly positive as the major averages opened mixed on Monday but all turned higher to finish with mild gains.

The Dow jumped 157.06 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 36,404.93, while the NASDAQ added 28.51 points or 0.20 percent to close at 14,432.49 and the S&P 500 rose 18.07 points or 0.39 percent to end at 4,622.44.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday, although stocks continued to benefit from the optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Optimism the Fed could pivot to cutting interest rates as soon as March 2024 has contributed to recent strength on Wall Street, although last Friday's strong than expected jobs data has led to speculation the Fed could wait until May to begin lowering rates.

Crude oil futures settled marginally higher on Monday due to continued uncertainty about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures ended with a small gain of $0.09 or 0.13 percent at $71.32 a barrel.