Indonesia Shares May Find Traction On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping more than 130 points or 1.9 percent in that span. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,190-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Wednesday.

The global forecast is murky amid a lack of true catalysts. The European markets were soft and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index skidded 80.65 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 7,186.04 after trading between 7,179.53 and 7,295.06.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga tumbled 1.88 percent, while Bank Mandiri plunged 4.74 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia plummeted 4.22 percent, Bank Central Asia skidded 1.06 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia lost 2.90 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison retreated 1.44 percent, Indocement jumped 1.82 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur slumped 1.20 percent, United Tractors stumbled 1.86 percent, Astra International sank 0.84 percent, Energi Mega Persada weakened 2.54 percent, Astra Agro Lestari declined 1.61 percent, Aneka Tambang rallied 2.49 percent, Vale Indonesia dropped 1.94 percent, Timah tanked 2.58 percent, Bumi Resources surrendered 2.13 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia and Semen Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower but gradually picked up steam as the day progressed and ended with mild gains.

The Dow added 66.22 points or 0.17 percent to finish at 39,872.99, while the NASDAQ gained 37.75 points or 0.22 percent to close at a record 16,832.62 and the S&P 500 rose 13.28 points or 0.25 percent to end at a record 5,321.41.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street came on renewed confidence the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates in the coming months, although recent comments from Fed officials have once again created some uncertainty.

While the likelihood rates will be lower by September remains high, the chances have fallen to 78.3 percent from close to 90 percent last week, according to CME Group's FedWatch Tool.

Another quiet day on the U.S. economic front may also have kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of the minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting later today.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday, slumping for a second straight session amid concerns that the central bank might keep rates higher for a longer period. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June dropped to around $79.06 a barrel, down 0.74 or 0.93 percent.