Jakarta. Indonesia’s benchmark Jakarta Composite Index (JCI) slipped on Thursday morning as investors booked profits and adopted a wait-and-see stance ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech at the Jackson Hole symposium on Friday.

The index opened at 7,903 before falling 43.11 points, or 0.54 percent, to 7,900.71 by 9:15 a.m. local time. Market breadth showed 273 gainers, 198 decliners, and 192 unchanged.

Energy stocks were the hardest hit, tumbling 1.67 percent, followed by a 0.24 percent drop in consumer non-cyclicals. Consumer cyclicals managed a 0.22 percent uptick, while financials were flat, edging down 0.04 percent.

The pullback comes after the JCI surged 1.03 percent on Wednesday, closing at 7,943.83. That rally was fueled by Bank Indonesia’s decision to cut its benchmark interest rate for the fourth time this year, lowering the BI Rate by 25 basis points to 5 percent. The move diverged from market consensus, which had expected the central bank to hold steady at 5.25 percent, and sparked foreign net buying of Rp 765.4 billion ($47 million).

While the stock market rallied, the rupiah weakened 0.16 percent to Rp 16,272 per US dollar. In contrast, the bond market strengthened, with the bond index rising 0.16 percent and the 10-year government bond yield easing two basis points to 6.39 percent.

“Retail investors who had benefited from the rally over the past few days, especially yesterday, are taking profits,” said Felix Darmawan, an analyst at Panin Sekuritas, in a market opening discussion on Thursday.

Felix added that investors were cautious ahead of Powell’s remarks, which could reaffirm the Fed’s hawkish stance given persistently high US inflation. That could limit expectations of monetary easing, despite political pressure from President Donald Trump.

“The uncertainty around the Fed’s next steps and shifts in global liquidity flows have kept investor response relatively muted,” he said.

Felix added that while the JCI could still retest the 8,000 level next week if Powell strikes a dovish tone, the index is likely to remain under pressure if the Fed sticks to tighter policy. “The path to 8,000 is open, but if the Fed finds it hard to ease rates, then it will also be difficult for the JCI to break that level,” he said.

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