Lower Open Anticipated For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of 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 beneath the 6,900-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. 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 modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index sank 42.76 points or 0.62 percent to finish at 6,897.37.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia skidded 1.04 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga improved 0.81 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia increased 0.79 percent, Bank Central Asia advanced 0.85 percent, Bank Mandiri collected 0.49 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia gathered 0.42 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison fell 0.42 percent, Indocement perked 0.23 percent, Semen Indonesia strengthened 1.38 percent, Indofood Suskes slid 0.37 percent, United Tractors retreated 1.21 percent, Astra International tanked 2.16 percent, Energi Mega Persada gained 0.79 percent, Astra Agro Lestari shed 0.61 percent, Aneka Tambang dropped 0.89 percent, Vale Indonesia tumbled 1.72 percent, Timah sank 0.82 percent and Bumi Resources plunged 2.80 percent.

The lead from Wall Street ends up negative as the major averages were unable to hold on to early gains on Thursday, sinking into the red by midday and ending at daily lows.

The Dow tumbled 249.13 points or 0.73 percent to finish at 33,699.88, while the NASDAQ slumped 120.94 points or 1.02 percent to close at 11,789.58 and the S&P 500 sank 36.36 points or 0.88 percent to end at 4,081.50.

The sharp pullback on Wall Street partly reflected ongoing interest rate concerns following hawkish comments by some Federal Reserve officials.

In U.S. economic news, the Labor Department said first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rebounded by slightly more than expected last week.

Crude oil futures ended lower Thursday as rising crude inventories in the U.S. and prospects of more interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve weighed on oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $0.41 or 0.5 percent at $78.06 a barrel.