Lower Open Predicted For Indonesia Stock Market

The Indonesia stock market headed south again on Monday, one session after ending the two-day slide in which it had dipped almost 20 points or 0.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,075-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative on sinking crude oil prices and on the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were sharply lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

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

For the day, the index sank 56.93 points or 0.93 percent to finish at 6,076.32 after trading between 6,053.93 and 6,133.17.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia plunged 3.38 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga tumbled 2.03 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia stumbled 2.83 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 1.00 percent, Bank Mandiri shed 0.41 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia fell 0.55 percent, Indosat skidded 1.45 percent, Indocement dropped 0.96 percent, Semen Indonesia surrendered 2.02 percent, Indofood Suskes dropped 0.81 percent, United Tractors added 0.37 percent, Astra International weakened 2.30 percent, Astra Agro Lestari tanked 2.35 percent, Aneka Tambang retreated 2.08 percent, Vale Indonesia lost 0.82 percent, Timah declined 2.02 percent and Bumi Resources plummeted 3.64 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is unfriendly as the major averages opened lower on Monday and sank deeper into the red as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow plunged 614.41 points or 1.78 percent to finish at 33,970.47, while the NASDAQ plummeted 330.06 points or 2.19 percent to close at 14,713.90 and the S&P 500 dropped 75.26 points or 1.70 percent to end at 4,357.73.

The weakness on Wall Street came as traders look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated monetary policy announcement on Wednesday. The Fed is widely expected to leave monetary policy unchanged but could address the outlook for its asset purchase program.

The minutes of the Fed’s last meeting signaled the central bank was prepared to begin scaling back asset purchases by the end of the year. With some recent disappointing economic data suggesting the Fed could push back its plans, traders will pay close attention to the wording of the post-meeting statement.

Crude oil prices declined sharply on Monday as worries about a likely slowdown in global economic growth raised concerns about the outlook for energy demand. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down by $1.68 or 2.3 percent at $70.29 a barrel.

Closer to home, the central bank in Indonesia will wrap up its monetary policy meeting later today and then announce its decision on interest rates. The bank is widely expected to keep its benchmark lending rate unchanged at 3.50 percent.