Indonesia Stock Market May Be Stuck In Neutral On Tuesday

The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had slumped almost 75 points or 1.2 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 6,840-point plateau and it figures to see little movement on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky ahead of a possible U.S. government shutdown. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Monday as gains from the financials and cement companies were capped by weakness from the resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 29.05 points or 0.43 percent to finish at 6,838.31 after trading between 6,812.06 and 6,857.10.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga added 0.59 percent, while Bank Mandiri advanced 0.87 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia rose 0.37 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia improved 0.62 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.57 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia sank 0.99 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison soared 3.00 percent, Indocement perked 0.27 percent, Semen Indonesia strengthened 1.20 percent, Indofood Suskes jumped 1.98 percent, United Tractors gained 0.65 percent, Astra International tanked 2.16 percent, Energi Mega Persada dropped 0.93 percent, Aneka Tambang fell 0.31 percent, Timah retreated 1.52 percent, Bumi Resources surged 3.74 percent and Astra Agro Lestari, Vale Indonesia and Perusahaan Gas Negara were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened sharply lower on Monday before recovering to finish mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 54.77 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 34,337.87, while the NASDAQ slipped 30.36 points or 0.22 percent to close at 13,767.74 and the S&P 500 fell 3.69 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,411.55.

The early weakness on Wall Street came as some traders looked to cash in on last week’s rally, which lifted the tech-heavy NASDAQ to a nearly two-month closing high.

Negative sentiment was also generated in reaction to news credit rating agency Moody’s has lowered its outlook for the U.S. credit rating to negative from stable amid concerns about a possible government shutdown.

The selling pressure was offset by a New York Federal Reserve report showing a modest decrease in consumer inflation expectations, sparking optimism the Federal Reserve is done raising interest rates.

Crude oil prices moved up on Monday, gaining for a third straight session amid some optimism about the outlook for energy demand, as well as a weaker dollar. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $1.09 or 1.4 percent at $78.26 a barrel.