Soft Start Predicted For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, surrendering almost 85 points or 1.4 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,875-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of key U.S. employment data later in the day. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished slightly lower on Thursday as losses from the financial shares and resource stocks were mitigated by support from the cement companies.

For the day, the index slid 11.75 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 6,874.83.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.35 percent, while Bank Central Asia retreated 1.36 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia weakened 1.43 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison dropped 0.95 percent, Indocement climbed 1.00 percent, Semen Indonesia lost 0.79 percent, Indofood Suskes jumped 1.85 percent, United Tractors declined 1.60 percent, Astra International sank 0.82 percent, Energi Mega Persada slumped 0.83 percent, Astra Agro Lestari slid 0.34 percent, Aneka Tambang surrendered 2.01 percent, Vale Indonesia stumbled 1.38 percent, Timah shed 0.65 percent, Bumi Resources plummeted 3.82 percent and Bank Mandiri and Bank CIMB Niaga were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened lower on Thursday, tumbled and then rebounded but still ended slightly under water.

The Dow dipped 9.98 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,119.57, while the NASDAQ fell 16.18 points or 0.12 percent to close at 13,219.83 and the S&P 500 eased 5.56 points or 0.13 percent to end at 4,258.19.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as traders remained worried about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the release of closely watched employment data later today.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, with a continue pullback by treasuries inspiring some traders to pick up stocks at reduced levels.

Ahead of the monthly jobs report, the Labor Department reported a slight uptick in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices fell sharply on Thursday amid uncertainty about the outlook for demand and due to disappointment over OPEC's decision to not increase the size of production cuts. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.91 or 2.3 percent at $82.31 a barrel.