Indonesia Stock Market May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Friday snapped the two-day losing streak in which it had given up more than 85 points or 1.2 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,800-point plateau, although it's likely to head south again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on concerns over inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, cement companies and resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 14.96 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 6,803.00 after trading between 6,758.35 and 6,814.87.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rose 0.29 percent, while Bank Mandiri retreated 1.46 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.80 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia plunged 3.59 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia shed 0.51 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia added 0.51 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison declined 1.42 percent, Indocement lost 0.49 percent, Semen Indonesia gained 0.36 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur stumbled 3.45 percent, United Tractors sank 0.71 percent, Astra International improved 0.64 percent, Energi Mega Persada tumbled 1.87 percent, Astra Agro Lestari dropped 0.84 percent, Aneka Tambang plummeted 3.86 percent, Jasa Marga rallied 1.22 percent, Vale Indonesia surged 4.45 percent, Timah slumped 0.96 percent, Bumi Resources skidded 0.90 percent and Bank Central Asia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened slightly lower on Friday but headed steadily lower throughout the day, ending at session lows.

The Dow plummeted 748.63 points or 1.69 percent to finish at 43,428.02, while the NASDAQ stumbled 438.36 points or 2.20 percent to close at 19,524.01 and the S&P 500 sank 104.39 points or 1.71 percent to 6,013.13. For the week, the Dow and the NASDAQ both dropped 2.5 percent, while the S&P tumbled 1.8 percent.

The sell-off on Wall Street came after the University of Michigan released a report showing consumer sentiment in the U.S. deteriorated by much more than expected in February.

The substantial deterioration by consumer sentiment came amid a surge by year-ahead inflation expectations, which spiked to 4.3 percent in February from 3.3 percent in January, reaching the highest level since November 2023.

Oil prices fell sharply to a two-month low on Friday, weighed down by concerns over the outlook for demand, and data showing a jump in crude inventories. A stronger dollar also fueled oil's decline. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April lost $2.08 or 2.9 percent at $70.40 a barrel. WTI crude futures shed 0.5 percent in the week.