Indonesia Bourse May Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Friday snapped the five-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 440 points or 5.8 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,900-point plateau and it's likely to remain stuck in neutral again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a cloudy outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares, cement companies and resource stocks.

For the day, the index shed 32.88 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 7,898.38 after trading between 7,898.37 and 8,017.07.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.58 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia surrendered 1.95 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia fell 0.46 percent, Bank Central Asia dropped 0.85 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia rallied 1.48 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison tanked 1.80 percent, Indocement lost 0.77 percent, Semen Indonesia stumbled 1.89 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur slumped 1.23 percent, United Tractors sank 0.72 percent, Astra International declined 1.47 percent, Energi Mega Persada jumped 1.75 percent, Astra Agro Lestari retreated 1.75 percent, Aneka Tambang rose 0.35 percent, Vale Indonesia plummeted 6.11 percent, Timah tumbled 1.95 percent and Bumi Resources and Bank Mandiri were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Friday and stayed that way throughout the session, ending on opposite sides of the unchanged line.

The Dow added 34.82 points or 0.08 percent to finish at 44,946.12, while the NASDAQ sank 87.72 points or 0.40 percent to close at 21,622.98 and the S&P 500 fell 18.74 points or 0.29 percent to end at 6,449.80. For the week, the NASDAQ added 0.8 percent, the S&P gained 0.9 percent and the Dow jumped 1.7 percent.

The weakness in the broader markets followed the release of mixed batch of U.S. economic data, which has led to some uncertainty about the outlook for the economy and interest rates.

While the Commerce Department said retail sales increased in line with estimates in July, the University of Michigan noted an unexpected deterioration in consumer sentiment in August.

On the inflation front, year-ahead inflation expectations jumped to 4.9 percent in August from 4.5 in July, while the Labor Department said import prices increased more than expected last month and the Federal Reserve saw a slight pullback by industrial production in July.

Crude oil traded lower on Friday ahead of the meeting between the presidents of the U.S. and Russia, which ultimately accomplished nothing. West Texas Intermediate crude for September delivery was down $1.20 or 1.88 percent at $62.76 per barrel.