Indonesia Bourse May Halt Its Slide On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, dropping more than 180 points or 2.6 percent in that span. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,070-point plateau although it's due for support on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with support expected from oil, gold and technology stocks. The European and U.S. markets were up on Thursday and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial, telecom, cement and resource sectors.

For the day, the index slumped 92.58 points or 1.29 percent to finish at 7,073.48 after trading between 7,042.69 and 7,150.29.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.58 percent, while Bank Mandiri lost 0.41 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia sank 0.78 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.65 percent, Bank Central Asia stumbled 2.14 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia retreated 1.67 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia dropped 0.98 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison declined 1.72 percent, Indocement surrendered 2.89 percent, Semen Indonesia plunged 3.40 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur advanced 0.99 percent, United Tractors tumbled 2.49 percent, Astra International slumped 1.85 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 3.67 percent, Astra Agro Lestari slid 0.42 percent, Aneka Tambang cratered 6.38 percent, Jasa Marga weakened 1.39 percent, Vale Indonesia skidded 5.30 percent, Timah crashed 3.79 percent and Bumi Resources was down 1.67 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Thursday, dipped into the red a few times but all ended above the unchanged line.

The Dow jumped 168.61 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 44,882.13, while the NASDAQ added 49.43 points or 0.25 percent to close at 19,681.75 and the S&P 500 gained 31.86 points or 0.53 percent to end at 6,071.17.

The major averages moved sharply lower late in the session after President Donald Trump said he would follow through on his threat to impose 25 percent tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico on February 1.

However, the major averages rebounded going into the close, reflecting the significant volatility from earnings news throughout the session.

Companies such as IBM Corp. (IBM) and Meta Platforms (META) posted quarterly results that beat expectations, while Microsoft (MSFT) and UPS (UPS) has decent earnings but provided disappointing guidance.

Oil futures settled marginally higher on Thursday on a likely drop in supplies amid a potential tariff on Canadian and Mexican goods, while a weaker dollar also provided support. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for March rose $0.11 or 0.15 percent at $72.73 a barrel.