Indonesia Shares Poised To End Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping almost 30 points or 0.4 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,360-point plateau although it's expected to find traction on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat amid optimism about an end to the record-setting U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the cement and financial shares, gains from the telecoms and a mixed, if volatile, performance from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index sank 24.73 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 8,366.51 after trading between 8,338.40 and 8,443.69.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.29 percent, while Bank Mandiri skidded 1.06 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.39 percent, Bank Central Asia stumbled 2.04 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slumped 1.02 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison skyrocketed 7.25 percent, Indocement slid 0.37 percent, Semen Indonesia tanked 2.54 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur sank 0.70 percent, United Tractors rose 0.27 percent, Astra International jumped 1.56 percent, Energi Mega Persada soared 3.30 percent, Astra Agro Lestari advanced 0.97 percent, Aneka Tambang dropped 1.03 percent, Vale Indonesia tumbled 2.22 percent, Timah plunged 3.21 percent, Bumi Resources skyrocketed 32.0 percent and Bank Negara Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is incongruous as the major averages opened mixed and ultimately finished the same way.

The Dow jumped 559.33 points or 1.18 percent to finish at 47,927.96, while the NASDAQ slumped 58.87 points or 0.25 percent to close at 23,468.30 and the S&P 500 rose 14.18 points or 0.21 percent to end at 6,846.61.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders express some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets - especially the possibility of a tech bubble - following recent volatility.

However, valuation concerns continue to hang over the markets, as traders had largely shrugged off worries about the economic impact of the shutdown.

A sharp increase by the price of crude oil has also contributed to considerable strength among energy stocks, which are moving higher along with biotechnology and healthcare stocks.

On the other hand, semiconductor stocks have come under pressure, dragging the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index down by 2.0 percent.