Indonesia Stock Market May Test Support At 7,700 Points

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Wednesday ended the modest two-day winning streak in which it had picked up more than 35 points or 0.5 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 7,740-point plateau and it's likely to open in the red again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with many of the overbought regional bourses likely to see profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow that lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday as losses from the financials were mitigated by support from the cement and resource sectors.

For the day, the index shed 37.59 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 7,740.90 after trading between 7,633.45 and 7,760.88.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga surrendered 3.01 percent, while Bank Mandiri stumbled 3.03 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia skidded 1.12 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia slumped 3.45 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.46 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia plunged 3.62 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia retreated 1.69 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison advanced 0.91 percent, Indocement soared 3.32 percent, Semen Indonesia rallied 1.31 percent, United Tractors rose 0.27 percent, Astra International dropped 0.95 percent, Energi Mega Persada tumbled 2.78 percent, Aneka Tambang climbed 2.13 percent, Jasa Marga shed 0.60 percent, Vale Indonesia jumped 4.75 percent, Timah surged 5.61 percent, Bumi Resources sank 0.82 percent and Astra Agro Lestari and Indofood Sukses Makmur were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but trended lower throughout the session, finally ending mostly in the red.

The Dow stumbled 293.47 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 41,914.75, while the NASDAQ perked 7.68 points or 0.04 percent to close at 18,082.21 and the S&P 500 dipped 10.67 points or 0.19 percent to end at 5,722.26.

The mixed performance on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength, which has lifted the Dow and the S&P 500 to record highs.

In economic news, the Commerce Department released a report showing new home sales pulled back sharply in the month of August.

Data on weekly jobless claims, durable goods orders and personal income and spending are due later this week, while Fed Chair Jerome Powell's speech later today is also in focus.

Oil prices fell sharply Wednesday on uncertainty about the outlook for demand and easing concerns over supply disruptions in Libya. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November sank $1.87 or 2.6 percent at $69.69 a barrel.