Indonesia Bourse May Hand Back Monday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Monday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 85 points or 1.1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,925-point plateau although it's looking at a soft start on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit-taking likely on the menu. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are also expected to open under water.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the financials shares, cement companies and resource stocks. For the day, the index gained 68.06 points or 0.87 percent to finish at 7,926.91 after trading between 7,915.05 and 7,951.98. Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.29 percent, while Bank Mandiri climbed 1.23 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia sank 0.78 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia improved 1.37 percent, Bank Central Asia was up 0.30 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia soared 2.68 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison slumped 1.44 percent, Indocement surged 3.79 percent, Semen Indonesia rallied 2.18 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur retreated 1.91 percent, United Tractors stumbled 2.23 percent, Astra International advanced 0.88 percent, Energi Mega Persada surged 5.41 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.34 percent, Aneka Tambang spiked 1.77 percent, Timah added 0.50 percent, Bumi Resources jumped 1.82 percent and Vale Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Monday and spent most of the day under water, finishing near daily lows.

The Dow stumbled 349.27 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 45,282.47, while the NASDAQ sank 47.24 points or 0.22 percent to close at 21,449.29 and the S&P 500 lost 27.59 points or 0.43 percent to end at 6,439.32.

Profit taking contributed to the initial weakness on Wall Street, as some traders looked to cash in on the strong gains posted last Friday, which lifted the Dow to a new record closing high.

The rally seen during last Friday's session came as remarks from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell seemed to indicate the central bank is likely to lower interest rates next month.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department released a repot this morning showing new home sales in the U.S. decreased from an upwardly revised level in July.

Crude oil jumped on Monday, on concerns that Western sanctions on Russian oil exports may continue longer than anticipated. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.20 or 1.89 percent at $64.86 per barrel.