Indonesia Stock Market May Head South Again On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Wednesday ended the two-day losing streak in which it had dropped almost 70 points or 0.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,950-point plateau although it may hand back those gains on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, with technology stocks expected to continue to weigh. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares, cement stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index advanced 80.88 points or 1.03 percent to finish at 7,943.83 after trading between 7,863.86 and 7,952.34.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga climbed 1.16 percent, while Bank Mandiri rallied 3.13 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.40 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia spiked 2.31 percent, Bank Central Asia rose 0.29 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia accelerated 2.72 percent, Indocement jumped 1.97 percent, Semen Indonesia soared 4.44 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur added 0.63 percent, United Tractors expanded 3.06 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 4.13 percent, Aneka Tambang climbed 1.07 percent, Vale Indonesia gained 0.54 percent, Timah advanced 0 99 percent, Bumi Resources strengthened 1.79 percent and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Astra International and Astra Agro Lestari were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be soft as the major averages spent most of Wednesday in the red and finally finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow rose 16.04 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 44,938.31, while the NASDAQ sank 142.09 points or 0.67 percent to end at 21,172.86 and the S&P 500 fell 15.59 points or 0.24 percent to close at 6,395.78.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected an extended sell-off by technology stocks following reports indicating the Trump administration is looking into the federal government taking equity stakes in computer chip manufacturers.

Traders may also have been reluctant to make significant moves ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's highly anticipated speech at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium on Friday.

Powell's remarks could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's next monetary policy meeting in September. CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.9 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next month.

Crude oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after the Energy Information Administration said crude oil inventories in the U.S. decreased much more than expected last week. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was up $0.79 or 1.3 percent at $63.14 a barrel.