(RTTNews) - The Indonesian stock market turned back to the downside again on Tuesday, one day after snapping the four-day losing streak in which it had declined more than 120 points or 5 percent in the process. The Jakarta Composite Index fell through support at the 2,340-point plateau to a two-month closing low, but now analysts are predicting a mild recovery at the opening of trade on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is fairly flat with a touch of upside, drawing support from commodities after a fresh record high for gold was reached. Technology stocks and properties also are likely to move higher. The European markets finished sharply lower and the U.S. bourses ended mixed but little changed - and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Tuesday, thanks to steep losses among the miners and the financial stocks.

For the day, the index was down 37.54 points or 1.6 percent to finish at 2,334.12 after trading between 2,328.45 and 2,386.18. Volume was 3.87 billion shares worth 3.1 trillion rupiah. There were 155 decliners and 49 gainers.

Among the decliners, Bumi Resources shed 5.2 percent, while International Nickel Indonesia lost 3.1 percent, Aneka Tambang declined 3.3 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia fell 3.5 percent and Bank Mandiri dropped 2.1 percent.

Bucking the trend, Telekomunikasi Indonesia added 1.2 percent and Mayora Indah surged 6.8 percent.

Wall Street provides little guidance as stocks saw a choppy trading session on Tuesday, despite some signs of life on the M&A front and positive news on factory orders. The major averages closed on opposite sides of the unchanged mark as some traders preferred to stay on the sidelines ahead of the release of key economic reports in the second half of the week.

In M&A news, Berkshire Hathaway entered an agreement to acquire the remaining shares of Burlington Northern Santa Fe it does not already own for $100 per share. The transaction is valued at approximately $44 billion and is the largest ever made by Warren Buffet’s firm.

Further, power tool maker Stanley Works and Black & Decker Corp. said that they have entered into a merger agreement to create Stanley Black & Decker, an $8.4 billion global industrial leader, in an all-stock transaction valued at about $4.5 billion.

Amid a relatively light day on the economic front, the Commerce Department reported that orders for manufactured goods increased by a little more than expected in the month of September.

Factory orders increased by 0.9 percent in September following an unrevised 0.8 percent decrease in August. The increase in orders came in slightly above economist estimates for an increase of about 0.8 percent.

The major averages continued their sideways movement in late day trading, finishing on a mixed note. While the Dow fell by 17.53 points or 0.2 percent to 9,771.91, the NASDAQ closed up 8.12 points or 0.4 percent at 2,057.32 and the S&P 500 rose by 2.53 points or 0.2 percent to 1,045.41.

In economic news, the Indonesian central bank will on Wednesday hold its monetary policy meeting on Wednesday and then announce its decision on interest rates. Analysts are widely expecting the bank to keep rates on hold at the current level of 6.5 percent.

Also, Indonesian consumer confidence dropped to 110 for October from 110.8 last month, Bank Indonesia’s survey showed on Tuesday. But a reading above 100 indicates optimists outnumber pessimists. A year ago, the index reading was 94.8. The survey found that current economic conditions rose 0.2 points to 96.8 in October, while the consumer expectation index fell to 123.2 from 125.1 in September.

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Posted in Categories: Eurozone, Releases, Stocks, USA.

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