Soft Start Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market rebounded on Tuesday, one session after halting the two-day winning streak in which it had risen more than 125 points or 1.7 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,350-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on continued profit taking and pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares and a mixed picture from the cement companies.

For the day, the index improved 55.89 points or 0.77 percent to finish at 7,352.60.

Among the actives, Bank Mandiri rose 0.35 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia strengthened 1.39 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia rallied 2.13 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.76 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia spiked 2.05 percent, Indocement climbed 1.13 percent, Semen Indonesia fell 0.40 percent, Indofood Suskes improved 0.77 percent, United Tractors shed 0.54 percent, Astra International advanced 0.98 percent and Vale Indonesia retreated 1.56 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and largely remained that way, finishing solidly in the red.

The Dow dropped 64.19 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 38,563.80, while the NASDAQ tumbled 144.87 points or 0.92 percent to end at 15,630.78 and the S&P 500 sank 30.06 points or 0.60 percent to close at 4,975.51.

The weakness on Wall Street partly reflected ongoing anxiety about the outlook for interest rates following last week's hotter-than-expectation inflation data.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is indicating just an 8.5 percent chance the Federal Reserve will lower rates by a quarter point in March, while the chances of a quarter point rate cut in early May have fallen to 33.8 percent.

Meanwhile, a strong gain by Walmart (WMT) helped limit the downside for the Dow, with the retail giant surging by 3.2 percent after reporting fourth quarter results that exceeded estimates and announcing a deal to acquire TV maker Vizio (VZIO) for $2.3 billion.

Crude oil prices moved sharply lower on Tuesday, reflecting ongoing concerns about the outlook for demand. West Texas Intermediate for March delivery slumped $1.01 to $78.18 a barrel, while the more actively traded crude for April delivery tumbled $1.42 to $77.04 a barrel.

Closer to home, The central bank in Indonesia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate (6.00 percent), deposit facility rate (5.25 percent) and lending facility rate (6.75 percent) all unchanged.