Indonesia Stock Market Tipped To Halt Its Slide

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking more than 20 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,700-point plateau although it's expected to stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky after the Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged but said more rate hikes were likely before the end of the year. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the financials and cement companies were mitigated by support from the resource companies.

For the day, the index fell 19.30 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 6,699.72.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga tanked 2.53 percent, Bank Mandiri dropped 0.98 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia retreated 1.64 percent, Bank Central Asia sank 0.82 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison added 0.57 percent, Indocement fell 0.26 percent, Semen Indonesia lost 0.42 percent, Indofood Suskes climbed 1.02 percent, Astra International spiked 2.22 percent, Energi Mega Persada surged 4.55 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.34 percent, Aneka Tambang advanced 1.00 percent, Vale Indonesia jumped 1.16 percent, Timah strengthened 1.04 percent, Bumi Resources improved 0.89 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia, United Tractors and Bank Rakyat Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed, tumbled after the Fed's policy statement but then rebounded to finish on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow slumped 232.79 points or 0.68 percent to finish at 33,979.33, while the NASDAQ added 53.16 points or 0.39 percent to close at 13,626.48 and the S&P 500 rose 3.58 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,372.59.

The late-day volatility came after the Fed announced its widely expected decision to pause its interest rate increases following 10 consecutive rate hikes but also forecast additional increases later this year.

However, the central bank's latest projections suggest the Fed plans to resume raising rates later this year, forecasting a rate of 5.6 percent by the end of 2023.

The forecast for additional rate hikes this year comes as the Fed raised its forecast for annual core consumer price growth to 3.9 percent from 3.6 percent.

Crude oil prices pared early gains and drifted lower Wednesday after data showed a notable increase in U.S. crude inventories last week, while a stronger greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July sank $1.15 or 1.7 percent at $68.27 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will release May numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. Imports are expected to sink 12.85 percent on year after tumbling 22.32 percent in April. Exports are called lower by an annual 12.0 percent after plummeting 29.4 percent in the previous month. The trade surplus is pegged at $3.00 billion, down from $3.94 billion a month earlier.