Jakarta (ANTARA) - Challenging global sentiments took a toll on Indonesia’s benchmark Indonesia Composite Index (IDX) that dropped 0.16 percent, or 10.07 points, on Thursday, to 6,468.26 points.This dismal performance was also reflected in the index of the 45 most liquid stocks that slid 2.45 points, or 0.24 percent, to 1,021.68 points."The challenging global sentiments, coupled with the investors' wait-and-watch strategy ahead of (the April 17, 2019) general elections will push the IDX to weaken," Valbury Sekuritas chief researcher Alfiansyah remarked in Jakarta on Thursday.On the external side, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has yet again cut its global economic growth forecast for 2019 to 3.3 percent, from 3.5 percent set in January 2019.Alfiansyah pointed out that a new wave of protectionism and the US-China trade tensions in addition to numerous economic issues bogging down Europe, including a potentially disorderly British exit from the European Union and weaker exports of Germany, considered to be among major economies in Europe, risk denting global growth.The United States seeks to slap hefty tariffs to the tune of US$11 billion on a range of European Union products, such as aircraft, wine, and cattle products, as a retaliatory measure against billions in worth of damage from European Union subsidies to Airbus that the World Trade Organization (WTO) found has adversely impacted the United States."All these suggest the onset of a damaged global multilateral system after trade dialogs have gradually improved," he stated.Regional markets that were in negative territory included Nikkei underperforming, with a drop of 1.82 points, or 0.01 percent, to 21,685.75, and Hang Sen dropping 108.2 points, or 0.36 percent, to 30,011.36; while Straits Times advanced 17.65 points, or 0.53 percent, to 3,345.3.