Indonesia Shares May Bounce Higher Again On Friday

The Indonesia stock market turned lower again on Thursday, one day after ending the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 50 points or 0.8 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,650-point plateau although it may find renewed support on Friday.

The global forecast is murky on concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mostly higher and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index sank 50.36 points or 0.75 percent to finish at the daily low of 6,652.26 after peaking at 6,717.98.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.65 percent, while Bank Mandiri shed 0.49 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia lost 0.55 percent, Bank Central Asia sank 0.82 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slumped 1.79 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison plunged 2.82 percent, Indocement dipped 0.26 percent, Indofood Suskes tumbled 2.03 percent, United Tractors improved 0.75 percent, Astra International tanked 2.17 percent, Energi Mega Persada surrendered 2.73 percent, Vale Indonesia skidded 1.17 percent, Bumi Resources plummeted 3.42 percent and Aneka Tambang, Bank Danamon Indonesia, Astra Agro Lestari, Semen Indonesia and Timah were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened lower on Thursday and spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before finally ending mixed.

The Dow dipped 4.81 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 33,946.71, while the NASDAQ jumped 128.41 points or 0.95 percent to end ay 13,630.61 and the S&P 500 added 16.20 points or 0.37 percent to close at 4,381.89.

Buying interest may also have been generated in reaction to a Labor Department report showing initial jobless claims held at their highest level since October 2021 last week.

With the Federal Reserve repeatedly warning about the impact of labor market tightness, the data may have added to optimism the central bank will not follow through on plans to continue raising interest rates.

Lingering concerns about rates limited the upside, however, as the Bank of England raised rates more aggressively, hiking rates by a bigger-than-expected 50 basis points.

Crude oil prices fell sharply Thursday as interest rate hikes and inflation concerns raised concerns about the outlook for fuel demand, while a stronger greenback also weighed. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended lower by $3.02 or 4.1 percent at $69.51 a barrel.