Soft Start Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the four-day losing streak in which it had dropped more than 370 points or 5 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,830-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement as geopolitical concerns appear to have taken a breather. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 37.03 points or 0.54 percent to finish at 6,832.14 after trading between 6,814.74 and 6,918.78.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga dipped 0.30 percent, while Bank Mandiri stumbled 2.89 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.82 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia sank 0.72 percent, Bank Central Asia tumbled 1.99 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia lost 0.53 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison shed 0.49 percent, Indocement slumped 1.42 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur jumped 1.58 percent, United Tractors fell 0.35 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 6.29 percent, Astra Agro Lestari advanced 0.86 percent, Aneka Tambang crashed 5.18 percent, Vale Indonesia surrendered 2.52 percent, Timah tanked 3.45 percent, Bumi Resources plunged 4.27 percent and Astra International and Semen Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened mixed and spent the whole day hugging the line before ending little changed.

The Dow dropped 106.59 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 42,982.43, while the NASDAQ added 61.02 points or 0.31 percent to close at 19,973.55 and the S&P 500 eased 0.02 points or 0.00 percent to end at 6,092.16.

The initial strength on Wall Street reflected recent upward momentum, which saw stocks move sharply higher over the two previous sessions.

Buying interest waned shortly after the start of trading, however, as traders continue to monitor developments in the Middle East following yesterday's news of a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. The subsequent pullback likely was profit taking after the major averages reached their highest intraday levels in four months.

In U.S. economic news, a report released by the Commerce Department showed a substantial pullback by new home sales in the U.S. in May.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday as an EIA report indicated a draw in crude oil inventories and a surge in U.S. gasoline demand to a three-and-a-half-year high. West Texas Intermediate crude oil for August delivery closed up by $0.55 to settle at $64.92 per barrel.