Indonesia Shares Likely To Head South Again On Friday

Indonesia

The Indonesia stock market on Thursday halted the six-day losing streak in which it had stumbled more than 230 points or 3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 7,575-point plateau although its expected to see renewed selling pressure on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative, with pressure likely among technology stocks amid waning optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets finished firmly in the red and the Asian bourses are expected to follow suit.

The JCI finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the telecoms, losses from the resource stocks and mixed performances from the financials and cement companies.

For the day, the index perked 4.17 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 7,574.02 after trading between 7,558.68 and 7,617.36.

Among the actives, Bank Mandiri sank 0.74 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.48 percent, Bank Central Asia dropped 0.97 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia jumped 1.91 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia advanced 0.88 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison skyrocketed 7.76 percent, Indocement retreated 1.37 percent, Semen Indonesia climbed 1.02 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rallied 1.67 percent, United Tractors soared 3.88 percent, Astra International tumbled 1.92 percent, Energi Mega Persada shed 0.70 percent, Astra Agro Lestari strengthened 1.88 percent, Aneka Tambang declined 1.84 percent, Vale Indonesia stumbled 1.29 percent, Timah surrendered 1.88 percent, Bumi Resources lost 0.71 percent and Bank CIMB Niaga, Bank Danamon Indonesia and Jasa Marga were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is bleak as the major averages opened solidly under water and stayed that way throughout the trading day.

The Dow tumbled 378.08 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 41,763.46, while the NASDAQ plummeted 512.78 points or 2.76 percent to close at 18,095.15 and the S&P 500 slumped 108.22 points or 1.86 percent to end at 5,705.45.

The sell-off on Wall Street came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from tech giants Microsoft (MSFT) and Meta Platforms (META).

Traders were also reacting to closely watched consumer price inflation data that largely came in line with economist estimates, although core CPI resisted lower forecasts to remain unchanged. That added to recent concerns the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates more slowly than hoped.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday amid expectations of increased demand from the U.S. and a likely delay in OPECs planned output increase from December. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for December ended higher by $0.65 or 0.95 percent at $69.26 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will release October numbers for consumer prices later today; in September, overall inflation was down 0.12 percent on month and up 1.84 percent on year, while core CPI added an annual 2.09 percent.