Indonesia Shares May Find Support On Tuesday

The Indonesian stock market has closed lower in four straight trading days, declining more than 90 points or 2.5 percent in that span. The Jakarta Composite Index finished just below the 3,750-point plateau, and now traders are expecting little movement when the market opens on Tuesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity, with traders waiting on a raft of economic data from China that is due out later this morning. Commodity prices also have stalled, leaving little guidance or investors, while technology stocks also may be soft. The European and U.S. markets were mixed, and the Asian bourses expected to follow suit.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Monday following consolidation among the energy producers and resource stocks.

For the day, the index dropped 38.89 points or 1 percent to finish at 3,748.76 after trading between 3,728.40 and 3,787.37.

Among the decliners, Energi Mega Persada plunged 3.4 percent, while Benakat Petroleum Energy fell 3.3 percent, Bumi Resources dropped 2.9 percent, Hexindo Adiperkasa lost 1.6 percent and Timah shed 2 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is fairly rudderless after drifting through a lackluster day of trading on Monday, as a spate of merger announcements was not enough to clear away the economic concerns that have weighed on stocks in recent weeks. The major averages posted modest gains in early trading, boosted by the announcement of a number of M&A deals. However, the early gains gave way in the mid-morning and stocks hovered around the unchanged mark through much of the session.

Last week, stocks continued a downtrend that began in early May. Friday saw the Dow close below the 12,000 mark for the first time since mid-March, as traders reacted to a string of weak economic reports.

Economic concerns continued to weigh on the market on Monday, though there was no fresh data to drive markets. There was a further sign of instability in Europe, however. S&P lowered its debt rating for Greece once again, another hit for that financially troubled country.

Merger deals were a key theme of corporate news on Monday. VF Corp. (VFC), the owner of the North Face brand of outdoor apparel, announced that it has reached a deal to buy hiking boot maker Timberland (TBL). The purchase is valued at $43 per share, or a total enterprise value of $2 billion net of cash acquired. Timberland jumped $13.21 to close at $43.20. Source: RRTNews