Lower Open Called For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 40 points or 0.5 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,235-point plateau and it looking at another soft start again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology stocks likely to weigh. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Thursday following losses from the financial, telecom, cement and resource sectors.

For the day, the index slumped 86.97 points or 1.04 percent to finish at 8,235.26 after trading between 8,139.82 and 8,358.96.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga skidded 1.06 percent, while Bank Mandiri collected 0.47 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia climbed 1.06 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia dropped 0.89 percent, Bank Central Asia fell 0.34 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia shed 0.50 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison tanked 2.52 percent, Indocement stumbled 2.69 percent, Semen Indonesia plunged 4.62 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rallied 2.28 percent, United Tractors crashed 3.49 percent, Astra International vaulted 1.13 percent, Energi Mega Persada surged 4.85 percent, Astra Agro Lestari retreated 1.65 percent, Aneka Tambang tumbled 2.91 percent, Vale Indonesia plummeted 3.40 percent, Timah spiked 2.53 percent and Bumi Resources cratered 4.44 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but trended lower throughout the day, finally ending on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow perked 17.05 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 49,499.20, while the NASDAQ tumbled 273.70 points or 1.18 percent to end at 22,878.38 and the S&P 500 lost 37.27 points or 0.54 percent to close at 6,908.86.

The pullback on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from Nvidia (NVDA), even though the company reported better than expected fiscal fourth quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Networking stocks also showed a notable move to the downside, contributing to the slump by the tech-heavy NASDAQ.

In economic news, the Labor Department noted a modest increase in first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits last week.

Crude oil prices saw early strength Thursday on Mideast tensions but couldn't hold the gains after progress was reported in talks between the U.S. and Iran. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery was down by $0.11 or 0.2 percent at $65.31 barrel.