Indonesia Bourse Poised To Extend Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slumping almost 50 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,900-point plateau and it's looking at another soft start again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets are tipped to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the resource and cement stocks, while the financials came in mixed.

For the day, the index fell 18.87 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 6,895.66.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia surged 4.58 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.82 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia shed 0.80 percent, Bank Central Asia tumbled 1.97 percent, Bank Mandiri shed 0.49 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison spiked 3.23 percent, Indocement skidded 1.08 percent, Semen Indonesia retreated 1.31 percent, Indofood Suskes declined 1.12 percent, United Tractors dropped 0.90 percent, Astra International added 0.44 percent, Energi Mega Persada stumbled 1.99 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rallied 2.45 percent, Aneka Tambang plunged 4.09 percent, Vale Indonesia surrendered 1.80 percent, Timah lost 0.41 percent, Bumi Resources tanked 2.08 percent and Bank Rakyat Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened sharply lower on Thursday, pared the losses midday but then slumped again to finish near session lows.

The Dow plunged 431.20 points or 1.26 percent to finish at 33,696.85, while the NASDAQ tumbled 214.76 points or 1.78 percent to close at 11,855.83 and the S&P 500 dropped 57.19 points or 1.38 percent to end at 4,090.41.

The steep drop on Wall Street followed the Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in producer prices, leading to renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

A separate Labor Department report showed first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits unexpectedly edged slightly lower last week.

Oil futures settled lower on Thursday, extending losses to a third straight session on recent data showing a surge in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended down $0.10 at $78.49 a barrel.