The Indonesia stock market has closed in the red in two straight trading days, surrendering more than 50 points or 1 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index ended just above the 5,215-point plateau, although the market may snap its slide on Wednesday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets in murky, with soft oil prices warring with optimism for the latest earnings season. The European markets were sharply higher and the U.S. bourses slightly lower, and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The JCI finished modestly lower again on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares and resource stocks.
For the day, the index fell 26.43 points or 0.51 percent to finish at 5,214.36 after trading between 5,197.09 and 5,217.22. Volume was 10.86 billion shares worth 7.68 trillion rupiah. There were 152 decliners and 149 gainers, with 85 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Astra Agro Lestari added 0.39 percent, while Aneka Tambang shed 0.46 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia climbed 1.23 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia jumped 0.98 percent, Bank Mandiri fell 0.69 percent, Bumi Resources surged 14.00 percent, Energi Mega Persada spiked 2.80 percent, XL Axiata advanced 1.73 percent and Vale Indonesia dropped 1.53 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is slightly negative as stocks finished slightly lower on Tuesday after opening sharply to the upside.
The Dow was down 27.16 points or 0.2 percent to 17,613.68, while the tech-heavy NASDAQ edged down 3.21 points or 0.1 percent to 4,661.50 and the S&P 500 slid 5.23 points or 0.3 percent to 2,023.03.
The pullback off the early highs was partly due to decreases in prices for crude oil and other commodities such as copper. The falling prices have led to concerns about the outlook for the global economy.
The worries overshadowed the optimism about earnings after aluminum giant Alcoa (AA) kicked off the reporting season on an upbeat note.
Financial giants JP Morgan (JPM), Wells Fargo (WFC), Bank of America (BAC), Citigroup (C) and Goldman Sachs (GS) will report their quarterly results later in the week.
