Indonesia Bourse May Remain Stuck In Neutral

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day winning streak in which it had advanced more than 80 points or 1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 7,740-point plateau and it may tick lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with profit taking likely on the docket after strong gains late last week. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are tipped to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index plummeted 162.39 point or 2.05 percent to finish at 7,743.00 after trading between 7,738.32 and 7,904.51.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.50 percent, while Bank Mandiri retreated 1.35 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.75 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia stumbled 1.29 percent, Bank Central Asia skidded 1.15 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia fell 0.45 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia sank 0.84 percent, Indocement climbed 1.10 percent, Semen Indonesia added 0.51 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur improved 1.06 percent, United Tractors advanced 1.13 percent, Astra International dropped 0.95 percent, Energi Mega Persada slumped 0.96 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rallied 2.32 percent, Aneka Tambang slid 0.36 percent, Jasa Marga declined 1.69 percent, Vale Indonesia rose 0.27 percent, Timah tumbled 1.94 percent, Bumi Resources lost 0.85 percent and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened lower on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow broke barely into the green by the session's end.

The Dow added 38.16 points or 0.09 percent to finish at a record 42,063.36, while the NASDAQ slumped 65.68 points or 0.36 percent to close at 17,948.32 and the S7P 500 fell 11.09 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,702.55.

For the week, the Dow jumped 1.6 percent, the NASDAQ climbed 1.5 percent and the S&P rallied 1.4 percent.

The early weakness on Wall Street partly reflected profit taking, with traders cashing in on Thursday's significant rally amid a positive reaction to the Federal Reserve's decision to slash interest rates by half of a percentage point.

Selling pressure waned over the course of the session, however, as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves as they question what the next catalyst for the markets will be now that the Fed's first rate cut is in the rearview mirror.

Oil futures settled slightly lower on Friday due largely to profit taking by traders after solid gains last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October eased $0.03 at $71.92 a barrel.