Soft Start Anticipated For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slipped almost 10 points or 0.15 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 7,100-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets mixed to lower amid soft earnings news and ahead of the FOMC's policy announcement later this week. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the food, resource and financial shares.

For the day, the index gained 42.85 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 7,098.89.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia retreated 1.45 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia improved 0.80 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.57 percent, Bank Mandiri soared 3.43 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia rose 0.43 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison skyrocketed 6.69 percent, Semen Indonesia rallied 2.58 percent, Indofood Suskes climbed 1.18 percent, United Tractors perked 0.16 percent, Astra International strengthened 1.53 percent, Energi Mega Persada surged 4.35 percent, Astra Agro Lestari gained 0.59 percent, Aneka Tambang added 0.54 percent, Bumi Resources spiked 3.85 percent and Bank CIMB Niaga, Indocement, Vale Indonesia and Timah were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and remained that way throughout the session.

The Dow slumped 128.85 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 32,732.95, while the NASDAQ sank 114.31 points or 1.03 percent to end at 10,988.15 and the S&P 500 dropped 29.08 points or 0.75 percent to close at 3,871.98.

The Dow posted a gain of almost 14 percent in October, the biggest monthly return since January 1976. The S&P 500 and the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent and 0.4 percent, respectively, last month.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to raise its benchmark interest rate by another 75 basis points - its fourth straight rate hike - to fight soaring inflation.

Also weighing were disappointing earnings results from the likes of Apple Inc. (AAPL), Amazon Inc (AMZN), Microsoft Corp (MSFT), Alphabet Inc. (GOOGL.TO), Meta Platforms Inc (META) and Intel (INTC).

Crude oil prices fell Monday amid concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China following a fresh surge in COVID-19 cases. A rise in oil output in the U.S., and a firm dollar also weighed on prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended down $1.37 or 1.6 percent at $86.53 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will release October numbers for consumer prices later today, with overall inflation expected to rise 0.17 percent on month and 6.0 percent on year after gaining 1.17 percent on month and 5/95 percent on year in September. Core CPI is tipped to rise 3.4 percent on year, up from 3.21 percent in the previous month.