The Indonesia stock market headed south again on Friday, one session after ending the three-day slide in which it had stumbled more than 110 points or 1.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,140-point plateau although it's expected to rebound again on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic, with earnings news and bargain hunting potentially limited by sinking crude oil prices and surging coronavirus cases. The European and U.S. markets were slightly higher and the Asian bourses are tipped to follow suit.
The JCI finished barely lower on Friday as losses from the resource stocks were offset by support from the financial shares.
For the day, the index eased 0.16 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 6,139.49 after trading between 6,113.26 and 6,179.90.
Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia retreated 1.68 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.49 percent, Bank Central Asia jumped 1.75 percent, Bank Mandiri climbed 1.27 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia gathered 1.57 percent, Indosat spiked 2.77 percent, Indocement advanced 0.95 percent, Semen Indonesia gathered 1.14 percent, Indofood Suskes added 0.40 percent, United Tractors fell 0.24 percent, Astra International accelerated 1.72 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 4.20 percent, Astra Agro Lestari skidded 1.17 percent, Aneka Tambang sank 0.83 percent, Timah tanked 1.94 percent, Bumi Resources tumbled 1.82 percent and Bank CIMB Niaga and Vale Indonesia were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened mixed on Friday but all managed to finish slightly to the upside.
The Dow added 15.53 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 35,515.38, while the NASDAQ rose 6.64 points or 0.04 percent to close at 14,822.90 and the S&P 500 added 7.17 points or 0.16 percent to end at 4,468.00. For the week, the Dow rose 0.9 percent, the NASDAQ fell 0.1 percent and the S&P rose 0.7 percent.
Corporate results offered support, led by Walt Disney, which posted better-than-expected quarterly earnings and a strong growth of its customer base.
In economic news, the University of Michigan's preliminary report said U.S. consumer sentiment index fell to an almost 10-year low. Also, the Labor Department said import and export prices both increase more than expected.
Crude oil futures settled lower Friday as traders weighed the outlook for energy demand amid spikes in the delta variant coronavirus in several countries. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for September ended down $0.65 or 0.9 percent at $68.44 a barrel.
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