Soft Start Likely For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 220 points or 3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,205-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests consolidation on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were own and the Asian markets figure to follow suit.

The JCI finished slightly higher on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and resource stocks, while the cement companies were down.

For the day, the index added 12.38 points or 0.17 percent to finish at the daily high of 7,205.67 after moving as low as 7,160.70.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia climbed 1.03 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia plunged 3.10 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.51 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia plummeted 4.22 percent, Indocement skidded 1.12 percent, Semen Indonesia tumbled 1.70 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur spiked 2.72 percent, United Tractors soared 3.64 percent, Astra International rallied 1.44 percent and Bank Mandiri and Jasa Marga were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the session.

The Dow plunged 396.61 points or 1.00 percent to finish at 39,170.24, while the NASDAQ tumbled 156.38 points or 0.95 percent to close at 16,240.45 and the S&P 500 sank 37.96 points or 0.72 percent to end at 5,205.81.

The sell-off on Wall Street reflected renewed uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates as traders digested recent U.S. inflation and manufacturing data, which has raised questions about whether the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in June.

Treasury yields moved sharply higher in reaction to the data and saw further upside during Tuesday's session, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year note reaching a four-month high.

On the U.S. economic front, the Commerce Department reported a significant rebound in factory orders in February.

Oil prices hit a five-month high on Tuesday amid rising demand following solid manufacturing activity data from the U.S. and China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.44 or 1.72 percent at $85.15 a barrel, the highest settlement since last October.