Soft Start Expected For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 30 points or 0.4 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,370-point plateau and the losses may accelerate on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on continued uncertainty regarding the end of the U.S. government shutdown. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Thursday as losses from the food, finance and telecom sectors were mitigated by support from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index shed 16.57 points or 0.20 percent to finish at 8,372.00 after trading between 8,354.84 and 8,418.16.

Among the actives, Bank Mandiri slumped 1.26 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.79 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia dropped 0.90 percent, Bank Central Asia retreated 1.47 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia sank 0.77 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison stumbled 2.78 percent, Indocement rallied 1.53 percent, Semen Indonesia skidded 1.12 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur fell 0.35 percent, United Tractors dipped 0.18 percent, Astra International declined 1.16 percent, Energi Mega Persada added 0.55 percent, Astra Agro Lestari tumbled 1.58 percent, Aneka Tambang rose 0.35 percent, Vale Indonesia perked 0.23 percent, Timah surged 4.07 percent, Bumi Resources skyrocketed 16.67 percent and Bank CIMB Niaga was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is rough as the major averages opened slightly lower on Thursday but accelerated deeper into the red as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plunged 779.86 points or 1.62 percent to finish at 47,474.96, while the NASDAQ tanked 536.10 points or 2.29 percent to end at 22,870.36 and the S&P 500 sank 114.20 points or 1.67 percent to close at 6,736.72.

The Dow pulled back well off the record closing high set on Wednesday amid a steep drop by shares of Disney (DIS), which came under pressure after the company reported fiscal fourth quarter earnings that exceeded analyst estimates but weaker than expected revenues.

Valuation concerns also continued to weigh on tech stocks, with AI darling and market leader Nvidia (NVDA) moving sharply lower along with tech heavyweights like Broadcom (AVGO) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

The weakness on Wall Street may also have reflected uncertainty whether key U.S. economic will be released following the end of the longest government shutdown in U.S. history.

Crude oil edged higher on Thursday as the end of the U.S. government shutdown has renewed confidence in consumption and energy demand. West Texas Intermediate crude for December delivery was up $0.22 or 0.38 percent at $58.71 per barrel.