The Indonesia stock market has finished lower now in back-to-back sessions, giving away more than 75 points or 2 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index finished just above the 3,910-point plateau, and now analysts are forecasting a mixed lead for the market when it opens on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic following the passage of a critical austerity budget vote from the Greek Parliament although soft economic data from the United States may limit the upside. The European and U.S. markets were down on Friday, and the Asian markets are expected to tick higher after heavy selling on Friday.
The JCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses from the financial shares and resource stocks.
For the day, the index plunged 66.595 points or 1.67 percent to finish at 3,912.39 after trading between 3,895.61 and 3,978.99. Volume was 3.78 billion shares worth 6.77 trillion rupiah. There were 198 decliners and 60 gainers.
Among the decliners, Bank Central Asia shed 4.4 percent and Bank Mandiri fell 2.4 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is negative as stocks saw notable weakness on Friday after moving modestly higher in the three previous sessions. Renewed concerns about the financial situation in Greece contributed to the pullback by the markets.
European finance ministers were unimpressed with the austerity agreement reached by Greek political leaders on Thursday, calling for an additional 325 million euros in savings. The other Eurozone countries are also calling for guarantees that the measures will be implemented before signing off on a new 130 billion euro bailout for the debt-plagued nation.
A report showing a notable drop in Chinese imports in January also contributed to the weakness on Wall Street, with the data raising concerns about the level demand in China. The report showed that the value of Chinese imports in January was down 15.3 percent compared to the same month a year ago.
Negative sentiment was also generated by a report from Reuters and the University of Michigan showing that U.S. consumer sentiment has deteriorated by more than expected in the month of February. The report showed that the consumer sentiment index dropped to a reading of 72.5 in February from January's final reading of 75.0. Economists had been expecting the index to edge down to 74.8.
A separate report from the Commerce Department showed that the U.S. trade deficit came in wider than expected in the month of December, with the value of imports increasing at a faster rate than the value of exports.
The major averages moved to the upside going into the close but still ended the day firmly in the red. The Dow slid 89.23 points or 0.7 percent to finish at 12,801.23, while the NASDAQ fell 23.35 points or 0.8 percent to 2,903.88 and the S&P 500 dropped 9.31 points or 0.7 percent at 1,342.64. The averages all closed modestly lower for the week as the Dow fell 0.5 percent, while the NASDAQ and the S&P 500 edged down by 0.1 percent and 0.2 percent, respectively.
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