Indonesia Bourse Expected To Remain Rangebound

The Indonesia stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 65 points or 1.2 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 4,905-point plateau although it figures to turn lower again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on spiking Covid-19 cases and poor results from bank stress tests. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the resource stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and cement companies.

For the day, the index rose 7.36 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 4,904.09 after trading between 4,882.14 and 4,941.14.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia skidded 1.45 percent, while Bank Mandiri shed 0.50 percent, Bank Central Asia tumbled 1.40 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.66 percent, Indosat surged 5.17 percent, Indocement dropped 0.83 percent, Semen Indonesia added 0.53 percent, Indofood Suskes soared 4.71 percent, Aneka Tambang advanced 0.83 percent, Vale Indonesia rose 0.36 percent and Timah, Bukit Asam, United Tractors and Bumi Resources were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as stocks opened sharply lower on Friday and stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow plummeted 730.05 points or 2.84 percent to finish at 25,015.55, while the NASDAQ tumbled 259.78 points or 2.59 percent to end at 9,757.22 and the S&P 500 sank 74.71 points or 2.42 percent to close at 3,009.05.

The weakness on Wall Street was due largely to a sharp surge in new Covid-19 infections in several states, raising fears of re-imposing restrictions on businesses. The U.S. Centers of Disease Control and Prevention has warned that the number of infected people in the U.S. is most likely 10 times higher than what has been officially reported.

Financials turned lower after the Fed released the results of stress tests on banks - which said the nation's biggest banks are healthy but could suffer up to $700 billion in losses on soured loans if the economy languishes. It also ordered certain banks to cap dividends to conserve funds.

Crude oil futures settled lower on Friday, weighed down by concerns over energy demand outlook in the wake of sharp spikes in new coronavirus infections in several states in the U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August ended down $0.23 or 0.6 percent at $38.49 a barrel.