Indonesia Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering almost 50 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,375-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak, although losses from the technology stocks may be mitigated by support from the oil companies. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the financial shares and cement companies were dented by weakness from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 27.61 points or 0.38 percent to finish at the daily high of 7,377.76 after moving as low as 7,316.93.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rallied 2.93 percent, while Bank Mandiri spiked 2.84 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia shed 0.66 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia collected 1.28 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Bank Central Asia both accelerated 2.05 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison perked 0.22 percent, Indocement strengthened 1.45 percent, Semen Indonesia added 0.43 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rose 0.39 percent, United Tractors dipped 0.20 percent, Astra International lost 0.47 percent, Energi Mega Persada tumbled 1.79 percent, Astra Agro Lestari sank 0.73 percent, Aneka Tambang dropped 0.60 percent, Vale Indonesia retreated 1.20 percent, Timah surrendered 1.88 percent and Bumi Resources was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened in the red on Monday and largely remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow dropped 162.26 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 39,313.64, while the NASDAQ sank 44.35 points or 0.27 percent to close at 16,384.47 and the S&P 500 fell 15.99 points or 0.31 percent to end at 5,218.19.

Weakness among technology stocks weighed on the markets, with semiconductor giant Intel (INTC) plunging by as much as 4.7 percent after reports suggested that China has introduced new guidelines to phase microprocessors from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) out of government PCs and servers.

Selling pressure remained relatively subdued, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make more significant moves ahead of the release of some key economic data in the coming days, including key inflation numbers on Friday.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales in the U.S. unexpectedly decreased in February.

Oil prices moved higher on Monday amid concerns about supply disruptions after Ukraine continued to attack Russian refineries. A weak dollar amid expectations of interest rate cuts by central banks contributed as well to the rise in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.32 or 1.64 percent at $81.95 a barrel.