Indonesia Bourse Likely To Remain Rangebound On Tuesday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day winning streak in which it had picked up almost 110 points or 1.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,710-point plateau although it's expected to open under pressure on Tuesday. The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat to lower ahead of the FOMC meeting later this week. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were soft and the Asian markets figure to split the difference. The JCI finished modestly higher on Monday following gains from the telecom, resource and energy companies, while the financials were mixed and the cement stocks were down. For the day, the index advanced 77.93 points or 0.90 percent to finish at 8,710.70 after trading between 8,642.06 and 8,720.09. Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga was down 0.28 percent, while Bank Mandiri climbed 1.02 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia dropped 0.80 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia added 0.47 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia collected 0.55 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison vaulted 3.83 percent, Indocement sank 0.72 percent, Semen Indonesia lost 0.69 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur tumbled 1.76 percent, United Tractors plunged4.86 percent, Astra International rose 0.37 percent, Energi Mega Persada skyrocketed 18.67 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.31 percent, Aneka Tambang rallied 2.06 percent, Vale Indonesia spiked 2.57 percent, Timah shed 0.63 percent, Bumi Resources surged 5.88 percent and Bank Central Asia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened mixed but quickly headed south and spent the balance of the session well under water.

The Dow dropped 215.67 points or 0.45 percent to finish at 47,739.32, while the NASDAQ sank 32.22 points or 0.14 percent to close at 23,545.90 and the S&P 500 fell 23.89 points or 0.35 percent to end at 6,846.51.

The modest pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking following recent strength in the markets, which saw the NASDAQ and S&P 500 reach their best closing levels in a month last Friday.

Overall trading activity was somewhat subdued, however, as traders looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision on Wednesday.

With the Fed widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts next year.

Crude oil prices slumped on Monday as the U.S. dollar strengthened ahead of the Federal Reserve's interest rate decision, which has largely been priced in. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $1.28 or 2.13 percent at $58.80 per barrel.