Soft Start Called For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in three straight sessions, slipping more than 90 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,990-point plateau and it's predicted to open under pressure again on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on concerns for the economy and for the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were firmly in the red and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Monday following losses from the financial shares and mixed performances from the resource and cement companies.

For the day, the index lost 32.31 points or 0.46 percent to finish at 6,987.33. Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia tanked 2.70 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga stumbled 1.64 percent, Bank Central Asia declined 1.40 percent, Bank Mandiri soared 3.33 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison rallied 2.13 percent, Indocement sank 0.75 percent, Semen Indonesia rose 0.33 percent, United Tractors tumbled 2.48 percent, Astra International retreated 1.63 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 6.74 percent, Aneka Tambang advanced 0.98 percent, Vale Indonesia gained 0.34 percent, Timah improved 0.81 percent, Bumi Resources plunged 5.52 percent and Astra Agro Lestari, Indofood Suskes, Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Rakyat Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened modestly lower and the losses accelerated as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 482.78 points or 1.40 percent to finish at 33,947.10, while the NASDAQ slumped 221.56 points or 1.93 percent to close at 11,239.94 and the S&P 500 sank 72.86 points or 1.79 percent to end at 3,998.84.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates following last Friday's stronger-than-expected jobs data.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to slow the pace of interest rate hikes next week, continued labor market tightness and elevated inflation may still lead the central bank to raise rates higher than currently anticipated. A drop in treasuries compounded the uncertainty.

Adding to the worries about where rates will peak, the Institute for Supply Management said that U.S. service sector activity unexpectedly accelerated in November.

Oil prices fell on Monday as strong U.S. service data raised the prospects for more aggressive moves by the Federal Reserve. West Texas Intermediate Crude futures for January ended lower by $3.05 or 3.8 percent at $76.93 a barrel.