Indonesia Shares May Take Further Damage On Thursday

The Indonesia stock market headed south again on Wednesday, one session after it had halted the two-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 140 points or 2.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 5,760-point plateau and it’s expected to open under pressure again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on growing concerns over rising inflation and the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following losses from the financial shares, cement companies and resource stocks.

For the day, the index skidded 73.81 points or 1.27 percent to finish at 5,760.58 after trading between 5,752.26 and 5,828.21.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia tumbled 1.99 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.52 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia cratered 3.67 percent, Bank Central Asia fell 0.70 percent, Bank Mandiri plunged 3.81 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia weakened 0.77 percent, Indosat tanked 2.46 percent, Indocement retreated 1.84 percent, Semen Indonesia declined 2.62 percent, United Tractors eased 0.11 percent, Astra International was down 1.94 percent, Astra Agro Lestari surrendered 2.25 percent, Aneka Tambang lost 1.92 percent, Vale Indonesia plummeted 5.16 percent, Timah dropped 1.42 percent, Bumi Resources sank 1.61 percent and Indofood Suskes was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as stocks opened firmly in the red on Wednesday, pared some of the losses but still ended in negative territory.

The Dow shed 164.62 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 33,896.04, while the NASDAQ eased 3.90 points or 0.03 percent to end at 13,299.74 and the S&P 500 fell 12.15 points or 0.29 percent to close at 4,115.68.

The lower open on Wall Street preceded the release of minutes from the FOMC’s latest meeting, which showed that members debated whether or not increasing inflation may be more than “transitory.”

The minutes also showed that the central bank may start to discuss when to start rolling back asset purchases, especially as the country continues to make headway against Covid-19.

The European Central Bank could decide to scale back its emergency bond-buying program as early as next month.

Crude oil prices declined sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by an increase in U.S. crude stockpiles, and on worries about outlook for energy demand from Asian countries. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended down $2.13 or 3.3 percent at $63.36 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will provide April numbers for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In March, imports jumped 25.73 percent on year and exports spiked an annual 30.47 percent for a trade surplus of $1.56 billion.

Market Analysis