Soft Start Predicted For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in consecutive trading days, slipping almost 60 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,260-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on disappointing earnings news and soft data. The European and U.S. markets finished sharply lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares and the resource stocks. For the day, the index sank 51.10 points or 0.70 percent to finish at 7,262.76 after trading between 7,249.28 and 7,311.15. Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.56 percent, while Bank Mandiri stumbled 2.26 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.99 percent, Bank Central Asia dropped 0.98 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slid 0.21 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison slumped 2.15 percent, Indocement rose 0.34 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur retreated 1.64 percent, United Tractors eased 0.10 percent, Astra International jumped 1.80 percent, Astra Agro Lestari declined 1.29 percent, Aneka Tambang fell 0.38 percent, Timah tanked 3.00 percent, Bumi Resources tumbled 2.56 percent and Energi Mega Persada, Vale Indonesia, Bank Danamon Indonesia and Semen Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is brutal as the major averages opened deep in the red on Wednesday and only moved lower as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plummeted 504.22 points or 1.25 percent to finish at 39,853.87, while the NASDAQ plunged 654.94 points or 3.64 percent to close at 17,342.41 and the S&P 500 tumbled 128.61 points or 2.31 percent to end at 5,427.13.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to disappointing corporate earnings news from companies like Tesla (TSLA) and Alphabet (GOOGL).

In economic news, the Commerce Department unexpectedly reported a continued decrease in new home sales in the U.S. in June.

Oil prices moved higher on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected drop in U.S. crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September ended up $0.63 or 0.81 percent at $77.59 a barrel, snapping a three-day losing streak.