Indonesia Stock Market Expected To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the three-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 70 points or 1.1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,870-point plateau and it's likely in store for more selling pressure.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index lost 37.94 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 6,873.79.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga added 0.42 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia gained 0.54 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.29 percent, Bank Mandiri shed 0.50 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia eased 0.21 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison dropped 0.83 percent, Indocement surged 3.54 percent, Semen Indonesia slid 0.34 percent, Indofood Suskes lost 0.37 percent, United Tractors dipped 0.31 percent, Astra International fell 0.43 percent, Energi Mega Persada surrendered 4.55 percent, Astra Agro Lestari perked 0.31 percent, Aneka Tambang plunged 2.58 percent, Vale Indonesia retreated 1.69 percent, Timah tumbled 2.79 percent, Bumi Resources plummeted 3.40 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow shed 34.99 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 33,891.02, while the NASDAQ tumbled 119.50 points or 1.00 percent to end at 11,887.45 and the S&P 500 sank 25.40 points or 0.61 percent to close at 4,111.08.

Concerns about the outlook for interest rates continued to weigh on Wall Street following last week's stronger than expected jobs data, which could prompt the Federal Reserve to speed up its pace for interest rate hikes.

Computer hardware stocks were under pressure, as were steel, housing, semiconductor and gold shares.

Oil prices climbed higher Monday on optimism energy demand from China will see a big jump after Saudi Arabia unexpectedly increased the prices of oil to be shipped to Asia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $0.72 or 1 percent at $74.11 a barrel.