Indonesia Bourse May Hand Back Friday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had slumped almost 20 points or 0.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,090-point plateau although it's expected to turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative after strong U.S. employment data weighed heavily on the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets ended firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Friday as gains from the resource and energy stocks were capped by weakness from the financial sector and a mixed performance from the cement companies.

For the day, the index gained 24.28 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 7,088.97.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga dropped 0.86 percent, while Bank Mandiri tanked 2.61 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.39 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia shed 0.68 percent, Bank Central Asia retreated 1.27 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia lost 0.50 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison slid 0.42 percent, Indocement tumbled 1.56 percent, Semen Indonesia rose 0.34 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rallied 3.00 percent, United Tractors added 0.50 percent, Astra International sank 0.61 percent, Energi Mega Persada surged 4.31 percent, Astra Agro Lestari slumped 0.84 percent, Aneka Tambang soared 3.17 percent, Jasa Marga gained 0.45 percent, Vale Indonesia improved 0.59 percent, Timah spiked 3.52 percent, Bumi Resources skyrocketed 12.96 percent and Bank Maybank Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened sharply lower on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow plummeted 696.75 points or 1.63 percent to finish at 41,938.45, while the NASDAQ tumbled 317.27 points or 1.63 percent to close at 19,161.63 and the S&P 500 dropped 91.21 points or 1.54 percent to end at 5,827.04.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of buoyant non-farm payroll data, which raised concerns that the Federal Reserve will likely hold interest rates at current levels or slow down the pace of reductions.

While the report points to continued strength in the labor market, the data is also likely to give the Federal Reserve confidence in its plan to gradually lower interest rates over the coming year.

Oil prices rose sharply on Friday, riding on the Biden Administration's decision to impose additional sanctions on Russia's oil exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February closed higher by $2.65 or 3.6 percent at $76.57 a barrel, the highest settlement in three months.