Indonesia Shares May Reverse Tuesday’s Losses

The Indonesia stock market headed south again on Tuesday, one day after ending the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 40 points or 0.5 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,280-point plateau although it’s expected to open higher on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with technology shares likely to lead the markets higher. The European markets were mixed and flat and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index dropped 115.25 points or 1.37 percent to finish at 8,280.83 after trading between 8,259.48 and 8,437.09.

Among the actives, Bank Mandiri jumped 1.90 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia tumbled 1.73 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia skidded 1.11 percent, Bank Central Asia slumped 1.03 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia sank 0.77 percent, Indocement stumbled 1.89 percent, Semen Indonesia tanked 2.81 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur shed 0.75 percent, United Tractors added 0.24 percent, Astra International dropped 1.13 percent, Energi Mega Persada plunged 4.80 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.32 percent, Aneka Tambang dipped 0.23 percent, Vale Indonesia contracted 1.41 percent, Timah was down 0.24 percent, Bumi Resources crashed 7.43 percent and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Bank CIMB Niaga were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the markets opened flat on Tuesday but quickly trended upward and spent the balance of the day in positive territory, ending near session highs.

The Dow soared 370.44 points or 0.76 percent to finish at 49,174.50, while the NASDAQ rallied 236.41 points or 1.04 percent to end at 22,863.68 and the S&P 500 gained 52.32 points or 0.77 percent to close at 6,890.07.

The strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting, as some traders looked to pick up stocks at relatively reduced levels following the steep drop on Monday when the Dow fell to a one-month low.

Semiconductor stocks lead the move back to the upside, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumping by 1.5 percent to a new record closing high. Significant strength was also visible among networking, gold, airline and software stocks.

In U.S. economic news, the Conference Board showed an unexpected improvement in U.S. consumer confidence in February as its consumer confidence index rose to 91.2 from an upwardly revised 89.0 in January.

Crude oil prices fell slumped Tuesday as traders continue to evaluate the potential turbulence in the trade tariff environment following the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling on reciprocal tariffs. West Texas Intermediate crude for April delivery sank $0.71 or 1.1 percent to $66.31 a barrel.