Mild Upside Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last five trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had jumped almost 130 points or 1.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,850-point plateau and it’s likely to remain in that neighborhood on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key economic data later in the day. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday following heavy losses in the financial sector and mixed performances from the cement and resource companies.

For the day, the index dropped 65.86 points or 0.95 percent to finish at the daily low of 6,855.69 after peaking at 6,932.46.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga slumped 1.74 percent, while Bank Mandiri tanked 2.39 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia retreated 1.94 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia plunged 2.82 percent, Bank Central Asia tumbled 2.36 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia dropped 1.36 percent, Indocement spiked 2.61 percent, Semen Indonesia plummeted 5.37 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur sank 0.81 percent, United Tractors stumbled 2.13 percent, Astra International surrendered 3.55 percent, Energi Mega Persada spiked 1.71 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.43 percent, Aneka Tambang rallied 1.21 percent, Vale Indonesia lost 0.46 percent, Timah shed 0.59 percent, Bumi Resources jumped 1.30 percent and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Jasa Marga Persero were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday but trended to the upside as the day progressed and ended mixed.

The Dow slumped 120.62 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 38,747.42, while the NASDAQ rallied 151.02 points or 0.88 percent to close at a record 17,343.55 and the S&P 500 added 14.53 points or 0.27 percent to end at 5,375.32 – also a record.

The advance by the tech-heavy NASDAQ was partly due to a surge by shares of Apple (AAPL), with the tech giant surging 7.3 percent to a record after unveiling new AI features that may drive users to upgrade their devices.

But traders are looking ahead to two potentially major market moving economic events later today – the Labor Department’s inflation report for May, and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement.

While the Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement as well as officials’ latest projections for the economy and interest rates.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Tuesday as caution reigned ahead of inventory data and the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended up by $0.16 at $77.90 a barrel.