Indonesia Stock Market May See Further Damage On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Friday ended the five-day winning streak in which it had climbed more than 180 points or 2.4 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,330-point plateau and it's expected to see continued consolidation on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is one of caution ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. 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 sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and resource companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 105.26 points or 1.42 percent to finish at 7,328.05 after trading between 7,308.04 and 7,416.34.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia shed 0.68 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia skidded 1.18 percent, Bank Central Asia retreated 1.69 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia tanked 2.85 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison tumbled 2.08 percent, Indocement dropped 0.86 percent, Semen Indonesia advanced 0.86 percent, United Tractors perked 0.21 percent, Astra International stumbled 1.90 percent, Energi Mega Persada declined1.80 percent, Vale Indonesia sank 0.94 percent, Timah skyrocketed 9.94 percent, Bumi Resources slumped 2.27 percent and Bank CIMB Niaga, Bank Mandiri, Indofood Sukses Makmurm Astra Agro Lestari and Aneka Tambang were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and remained under water throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 190.89 points or 0.49 percent to finish at 38,714.77, while the NASDAQ dropped 155.36 points or 0.96 percent to close at 15,973.17 and the S&P 500 sank 33.39 points or 0.65 percent to end at 5,117.09. For the week, the NASDAQ fell 0.7 percent, the S&P eased 0.1 percent and the Dow was nearly flat.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected concerns about the outlook for interest rates ahead of the Fed's monetary policy meeting later this week.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders will look to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates. Recent hotter-than-expected inflation readings have reduced optimism that the Fed's first rate cut may come in June.

In economic news, the Labor Department said U.S. import prices increased in line with estimates in February, while export prices exceeded expectations. The Fed also noted a slight increase in U.S. industrial production in February.

Oil prices dropped on Friday, retreating from multi-month highs, due largely to profit taking after recent strong gains. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended down by $0.22 at $81.04 a barrel.