Indonesia Bourse May Give Up Support At 7,100 Points

The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in four straight sessions, slumping more than 300 points or 4 percent in that span. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 7,150-point plateau and it figures to open to the downside again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft ahead of the FOMC’s interest rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mostly lower and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion, although bargain hunting may take hold later in the day.

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

For the day, the index tumbled 100.90 points or 1.39 percent to finish at 7,157.73 after trading between 7,132.06 and 7,263.31.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga skidded 1.14 percent, while Bank Mandiri stumbled 2.06 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia retreated 1.92 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia plunged 3.66 percent, Bank Central Asia surrendered 1.98 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia declined 2.35 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia sank 0.93 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison weakened 1.54 percent, Semen Indonesia slumped 2.08 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur shed 0.92 percent, United Tractors crashed 6.33 percent, Astra International dropped 2.83 percent, Energi Mega Persada lost 1.67 percent, Aneka Tambang plummeted 3.21 percent, Jasa Marga tanked 1.60 percent, Vale Indonesia fell 2.34 percent, Timah slipped 3.14 percent, Bumi Resources was down 2.88 percent and Indocement and Astra Agro Lestari were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and remained in the red throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 267.58 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 43,449.90, while the NASDAQ sank 64.83 points or 0.32 percent to close at 20,109.06 and the S&P 500 lost 23.47 points or 0.39 percent to end at 6,050.61.

The weakness on Wall Street reflected a pullback by technology stocks, which had led the way higher in the previous session – particularly among the networking and semiconductor stocks. Telecom, financial, housing and steel stocks also moved to the downside.

Meanwhile, traders continued to look ahead to the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower rates by another quarter-point, traders will pay close attention to the Fed’s statement and latest economic projections, including their forecasts for rates.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday amid concerns about the outlook for global demand, and possible excess supply in the market next year. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for January ended down $0.63 or 0.9 percent at $70.08 a barrel.