Soft Start Predicted For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 130 points or 1.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,250-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of the next round of economic data, and skepticism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following losses from the automobile stocks and mixed performances from the financials and resource companies.

For the day, the index advanced 77.21 points or 1.08 percent to finish at 7,253.63.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rose 0.27 percent, while Bank Mandiri spiked 2.15 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.38 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia advanced 0.86 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slumped 0.44 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison surged 7.14 percent, Semen Indonesia added 0.53 percent, United Tractors shed 0.66 percent, Astra International dropped 0.88 percent, Astra Agro Lestari retreated 1.62 percent, Aneka Tambang strengthened 1.34 percent, Vale Indonesia soared 6.03 percent, Timah spiked 3.93 percent, Bumi Resources tumbled 2.17 percent and Bank Central Asia, Indocement, Indofood Sukses Makmur and Energi Mega Persada were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday finished the same way.

The Dow shed 216.73 points or 0.55 percent to finish at 38,852.86, while the NASDAQ advanced 99.09 points or 0.59 percent to close at a record 17,019.88 and the S&P 500 perked 1.32 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,306.04.

The continued advance by the NASDAQ came on a sharp increase by shares of Nvidia (NVDA), with the AI darling surging 7.1 percent to a record closing high.

Meanwhile, a steep drop by shares of Merck (MRK) weighed on the Dow, as the drug giant tumbled by 2.6 percent to its lowest closing level in well over a month.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board noted an unexpectedly significant improvement in consumer confidence in May.

Oil prices rose Tuesday on hopes demand for oil will pick up in the U.S. driving season, and on expectations that OPEC will extend its production cuts into the next quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for July ended higher by $2.11 or 2.7 percent at $79.83 a barrel.