JCI Opens in Red at Tuesday's Start  

TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) went down by 34.30 points at the start of Tuesday's trading session, as investors are increasingly becoming more pessimistic in light of the lack of positive sentiments, both domestically as well as externally. 

The JCI tumbled by 34.30 points or 0.65 percent to commence trading at 5,211.13 points, while the Top 45 (LQ45) Index went up by 8.71 points or 0.96 percent to begin trading at 901.93 points. 

The head of research at Valbury Asia Securities, Alfiansyah, said in Jakarta on Tuesday that negative sentiments from the domestic sphere stemmed from worries among investors about the profit prospects of publicly-traded companies in the first quarter (Q1) of 2015, which had been projected to decrease.

Externally, market players are waiting for the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) to meet, which is set begin on Tuesday, April 28, 2015, local time. The meeting is expected to provide some clues in relation to the Federal Reserve Bank of America's plans to begin raising its fund rate.

Furthermore, market players are also worried about the situation in Greece, as the possibility of a default would definitely rise should the bailout fund fail to clear before its next debt repayment is due—especially since its government and creditors have yet to fully agree on the extent and depth of Greece's economic reforms.

"Domestic and external sentiments are not very conducive for the JCI to sustain an uptrend, which could mean that the Index may slip further as today's trading progresses," said Alfiansyah.

Meanwhile, a technical analyst for Mandiri Sekuritas, Hadiansyah, said that a technical uptrend remained possible—especially in the banking sector, which had experienced a significant downtrend in the past few days.

"Theoretically speaking, a technical rebound could occur once the Index dips to around 5,200 points," said Hadiansyah.

Meanwhile, across Asia, the Hang Seng Index dropped by 59.44 points or 0.21 percent to commence trading at 28,374.15 points, the Nikkei rose by 118.85 points or 0.58 percent to open at 20,099.17 points, while the Straits Times Index dipped by 13.32 points or 0.38 percent to commence trading at 3,502.72 points.

ANTARA