Steady Start Eyed For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than 65 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 7,010-point plateau although it may find traction on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed with little change ahead of key economic events that are likely to affect the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The JCI finished slightly lower on Tuesday following gains from the financials, weakness from the cement stocks and a mixed picture from the resource companies.

For the day, the index dipped 5.29 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 7,012.07.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia climbed 1.00 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia improved 1.08 percent, Bank Central Asia shed 0.55 percent, Bank Mandiri jumped 1.98 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia collected 0.62 percent, Indocement sank 0.76 percent, Semen Indonesia retreated 1.30 percent, Indofood Suskes advanced 0.80 percent, United Tractors soared 3.19 percent, Astra International tanked 2.81 percent, Energi Mega Persada accelerated 2.41 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.30 percent, Aneka Tambang rallied 2.61 percent, Vale Indonesia strengthened 1.74 percent, Timah lost 0.39 percent, Bumi Resources surged 3.35 percent and Bank CIMB Niaga and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests a mild negative bias as the major averages opened higher, tumbled mid-session but then bounced back to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 3.07 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 33,852.53, while the NASDAQ lost 65.72 points or 0.59 percent to end at 10,983.78 and the S&P 500 dipped 6.31 points or 0.16 percent to close at 3,957.63.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came amid lingering uncertainty about the situation in China following widespread protests over the country's Covid restrictions.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell later today, which may offer additional clues about the outlook for interest rates. Jobless data follows on Friday.

In economic news, the Conference Board released a report showing a modest decrease in U.S. consumer confidence in November.

Crude oil futures settled higher Tuesday, extending gains from the previous session on hopes that OPEC may trim production to support prices later this week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended higher by $$0.96 or 1.2 percent at $78.20 a barrel.