Indonesia Shares May Open To The Upside On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - Ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday, the Indonesia stock market had finished lower in back-to-back sessions, sinking almost 80 points or 1 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 8,210-point plateau and it may find traction on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests mild upside, although most of the regional markets remain shuttered for the Lunar New Year holiday. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and cement companies, while the resource stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index lost 53.08 points or 0.64 percent to finish at 8,212.27 after trading between 8,170.59 and 8,251.99.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga slipped 0.27 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.38 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia shed 0.67 percent, Bank Central Asia tumbled 1.71 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia dipped 0.26 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison added 0.45 percent, Indocement tanked 2.55 percent, Semen Indonesia plunged 5.94 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur retreated 1.48 percent, United Tractors rallied 2.26 percent, Astra International stumbled 1.85 percent, Energi Mega Persada skyrocketed 9.64 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.33 percent, Aneka Tambang surrendered 1.70 percent, Vale Indonesia slumped 1.76 percent, Timah plummeted 3.34 percent, Bumi Resources surged 8.15 percent and Bank Mandiri was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is cautiously optimistic as the major averages opened mixed on Tuesday and spent the day bouncing back and forth across the line before finally ending with mild gains.

The Dow added 32.26 points or 0.07 percent to finish at 49,533.19, while the NASDAQ gained 31.71 points or 0.14 percent to close at 22,578.38 and the S&P 500 perked 7.05 points or 0.10 percent to end at 6,843.22.

The choppy trade on Wall Street came as traders were reluctant to make significant moves ahead of key economic data in the coming days. The minutes of the Fed's latest monetary policy meeting may also shed additional light on the outlook for interest rates.

Also, investors remain leery about the effect that artificial intelligence is having on technology companies, weighing on that sector.

In economic news, the National Association of Home Builders reported that homebuilder confidence unexpectedly deteriorated in February.

Crude oil prices showed another notable move to the downside on Tuesday amid reports indicating that the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries is leaning towards resuming oil output increases from April. West Texas Intermediate crude for March delivery slid $0.44 or 0.7 percent to $62.45 a barrel.