Soft Start Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - 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 picked up almost 110 points or 1.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 8,660-point plateau and it may extend its losses on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of the FOMC rate decision later today. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Tuesday following losses from the food and telecom stocks, while the financial, cement and resource sectors were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 53.52 points or 0.61 percent to finish at 8,657.18 after trading between 8,626.85 and 8,749.26.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.56 percent, while Bank Mandiri retreated 1.21 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.40 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia rose 0.23 percent, Bank Central Asia tanked 2.41 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia collected 0.27 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison tumbled 1.64 percent, Indocement plunged 4.74 percent, Semen Indonesia added 0.69 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur stumbled 1.79 percent, United Tractors gained 0.51 percent, Astra International contracted 1.86 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 2.80 percent, Astra Agro Lestari slumped 1.57 percent, Aneka Tambang dropped 1.68 percent, Vale Indonesia cratered 3.51 percent, Timah crashed 3.79 percent and Bumi Resources surged 7.94 percent

The lead from Wall Street provides little clarity as the major averages opened mixed and fairly flat and stayed that way through the session.

The Dow dropped 179.03 points or 0.38 percent to finish at 47,560.29, while the NASDAQ rose 30.58 points or 0.13 percent to close at 23,576.49 and the S&P 500 eased 6.00 points or 0.09 percent to end at 6,840.51.

Traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement later today. While the Fed is widely expected to lower interest rates by another quarter point, there is considerable uncertainty about the longer-term outlook for rates.

Traders are likely to pay close attention to the wording of the Fed's accompanying statement as well as Fed Chair Jerome Powell's post-meeting press conference for clues about the likelihood of further rate cuts.

On the U.S. economic front, the Labor Department said job openings in the U.S. edged slightly higher in October.

Crude oil prices slumped on Tuesday as Iraq resumed crude flow from Lukoil's West Qurna oil fields while the U.S. dollar gained ground after job data from the U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude for January delivery was down $0.66 or 1.12 percent at $58.22 per barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will see October data for retail sales later today; in September, sales were up an annual 3.7 percent.