Oversold Indonesia Bourse Nonetheless Called Lower Again

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in four straight sessions, plunging almost 450 points or 6.9 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,220-point plateau and it may take further damage again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday with damage across the board, especially among the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index plummeted 248.56 points or 3.84 percent to finish at 6,223.39 after trading between 6,011.84 and 6,465.22.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga tumbled 2.10 percent, while Bank Mandiri surrendered 3.21 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia retreated 2.05 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia tanked 3.23 percent, Bank Central Asia stumbled 3.49 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia cratered 3.92 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison plunged 5.02 percent, Indocement declined 2.83 percent, Semen Indonesia slumped 2.21 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur skidded 2.75 percent, United Tractors weakened 3.34 percent, Astra International added 0.65 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 4.73 percent, Astra Agro Lestari dropped 3.85 percent, Aneka Tambang shed 1.21 percent, Jasa Marga sank 2.56 percent, Vale Indonesia crashed 4.33 percent, Timah lost 3.47 percent, Bumi Resources was down 8.51 percent and Bank Maybank Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 260.32 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 41,581.31, while the NASDAQ plunged 304.55 points or 1.71 percent to close at 17,504.12 and the S&P 500 sank 60.46 points or 1.07 percent to end at 5,614.66.

Concerns about the impact of President Donald Trump's trade policies continued to weigh along with worries about the economic outlook despite the release of some upbeat economic data.

The Federal Reserve said industrial production in the U.S. increased much more than expected in January. Also, the Commerce Department said new residential construction rebounded more than anticipated in February.

Traders were also looking ahead to the Federal Reserve's latest monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement as well as officials' latest projections for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures settled lower on Tuesday as concerns about supply disruptions eased, while worries about global growth due to the impact of U.S. trade tariffs weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $0.68 or 1 percent at $66.90 a barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Indonesia will wrap up its monetary policy and then announce its decision on interest rates. The central bank is expected to keep unchanged its benchmark lending rate (5.75 percent), deposit facility rate (5.00 percent) and lending facility rate (6.50 percent).