Indonesia Shares Tipped To Open In The Red

The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in three straight sessions, slumping almost 50 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,275-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild consolidation ahead of key data later this week that could affect the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were slightly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index shed 35.16 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 7,276.75 after trading between 7,259.78 and 7,328.38.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga and Bank Central Asia both sank 0.76 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia lost 0.69 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia fell 0.42 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia and Semen Indonesia both retreated 1.22 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison advanced 0.87 percent, Indocement tumbled 2.18 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur declined 1.87 percent, United Tractors climbed 1.16 percent, Astra International shed 0.48 percent, Energi Mega Persada stumbled 1.49 percent, Astra Agro Lestari slumped 1.47 percent, Aneka Tambang skidded 1.35 percent, Vale Indonesia dipped 0.24 percent, Timah tanked 1.74 percent, Bumi Resources surrendered 1.16 percent and Bank Mandiri was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Monday, rallied in the afternoon but sank back into the red by the close.

The Dow dropped 97.55 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 38,989.83, while the NASDAQ sank 67.43 points or 0.41 percent to close at 16,207.51 and the S&P 500 eased 6.13 points or 0.12 percent to close at 5,130.95.

The weakness on Wall Street was the result of caution on the part of investors, with several significant data points on tap for the coming days.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s congressional testimony will be in focus for clues about the outlook for interest rates. Powell is due to testify before the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday and the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday.

Then on Friday is the Labor Department’s highly anticipated employment report for February, which also could affect the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures ended lower on Monday on concerns about the outlook for energy demand after OPEC extended its output cuts to the end of the second quarter. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April ended lower by $1.23 or 1.5 percent at 78.74 a barrel.