Renewed Support Tipped For Indonesia Shares

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one day after ending the three-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 220 points or 3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,175-point plateau although it's expected to open higher again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside on conflicting signals over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and cement companies.

For the day, the index lost 29.65 points or 0.41 percent to finish at 7,176.02 after trading between 7,164.10 and 7,210.80.

Among the actives, Bank Mandiri tumbled 1.81 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia plunged 4.75 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia surrendered 2.74 percent, Bank Central Asia plummeted 3.79 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia dropped 0.88 percent, Indocement retreated 1.42 percent, Semen Indonesia declined 1.30 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur sank 0.76 percent, United Tractors rallied 1.41 percent, Astra International fell 0.47 percent, Vale Indonesia stumbled 1.45 percent, Perusahaan Gas jumped 1.87 percent, Jasa Marga tanked 2.21 percent and Bukit Asam was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly lower on Wednesday, moved modestly into the green and then finished mixed.

The Dow dipped 43.10 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 39,127.14, while the NASDAQ rose 37.01 points or 0.23 percent to close at 16,277.46 and the S&P 500 perked 5.68 points or 0.11 percent to end at 5,211.49.

The early turnaround on Wall Street followed a report from the Institute for Supply Management showing an unexpected slowdown in the pace of U.S. service sector growth in March.

Worries the Federal Reserve may hold off on lowering interest rates also contributed to the early weakness on Wall Street after payroll processor ADP noted stronger than expected private sector job growth in the U.S. in March.

Meanwhile, Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated during remarks at Stanford University that the central bank is not in a hurry to begin lowering interest rates.

Oil prices climbed higher Wednesday after OPEC ended its meeting without making any changes to its production policy. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $0.28 or 0.33 percent at $85.43 a barrel.