Indonesia Bourse May Find Traction On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in back-to-back sessions, dropping more than 210 points or 2.8 percent in that span. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,935-point plateau although it's due for support on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat, with bargain hunting among the technology companies likely to lead the markets higher. The European and U.S. markets were firmly higher and the Asian markets are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial, food, cement and resource companies.

For the day, the index stumbled 168.62 points or 2.08 percent to finish at 7,935.26 after trading between 7,861.69 and 8,025.14.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.80 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.38 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia dropped 0.88 percent, Bank Central Asia retreated 1.60 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia tumbled 1.82 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison advanced 0.94 percent, Indocement improved 0.78 percent, Semen Indonesia climbed 1.15 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur tanked 2.14 percent, United Tractors stumbled 3.65 percent, Astra International surrendered 3.60 percent, Energi Mega Persada declined 1.76 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.33 percent, Aneka Tambang cratered 2.62 percent, Vale Indonesia plunged 3.17 percent, Timah plummeted 6.48 percent, Bumi Resources crashed 5.83 percent and Bank Mandiri was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly positive as the major averages opened firmly higher on Friday and continued to accelerate throughout the day, ending at session highs.

The Dow surged 1,206.97 points or 2.47 percent to finish at a record 50,115.67, while the NASDAQ soared 490.61 points or 2.18 percent to close at 23,031.21 and the S&P 500 jumped 133.90 points or 1.97 percent to end at 6,932.30.

For the week, the Dow rallied 2.5 percent, while the S&P dipped 0.1 percent and the NASDAQ fell 1.8 percent.

The rally on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following the recent weakness, especially among the technology shares that had dragged the NASDAQ to its lowest close in two months.

Airline stocks showed a substantial move to the upside on the day, as did computer hardware and semiconductor stocks. A sharp increase by the price of gold also provided significant strength to the markets.

Crude oil moved higher on Friday after the U.S. issued an advisory telling its citizens to depart from Iran, further stoking concerns of war. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery was up $0.20 or 0.32 percent at $63.49 per barrel.