Soft Start Called For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive finished through the last five trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 85 points or 1.2 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,020-point plateau and it may see additional selling pressure on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with oil and technology stocks expected to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Monday following financial shares and resource stocks, while the cement companies were mixed.

For the day, the index dropped 69.81 points or 0.98 percent to finish at 7,019.39.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia dropped 0.99 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga declined 1.27 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia sank 2.15 percent, Bank Central Asia skidded 1.13 percent, Bank Mandiri retreated 1.68 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia lost 1.51 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison surrendered 2.59 percent, Indocement added 0.49 percent, Semen Indonesia stumbled 1.54 percent, Indofood Suskes climbed 1.17 percent, United Tractors weakened 1.03 percent, Astra International tumbled 2.33 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 6.59 percent, Vale Indonesia slumped 1.68 percent, Timah fell 0.34 percent, Bumi Resources tanked 2.70 percent and Aneka Tambang and Astra Agro Lestari were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Monday, bounced higher in the afternoon but then a late swoon sent them all into the red at the close.

The Dow dropped 211.16 points or 0.63 percent to finish at 33,536.70, while the NASDAQ slumped 127.11 points or 1.12 percent to end at 11,196.22 and the S&P 500 lost 35.68 points or 0.89 percent to close at 3,957.25.

The volatility on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following last week's rally.

The lower close on the day came despite comments from Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard that added to optimism about a slower pace of rate hikes.

Crude oil prices slumped Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand from China, a downward revision in demand growth forecast by OPEC and a stronger dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended lower by $3.09 or 3.5 percent at $85.87 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will see October figures for imports, exports and trade balance later this morning. In September, impots were up 22.02 percent on year and exports jumped an annual 20.28 percent for a trade surplus of $4.99 billion.