Indonesia Stock Market May Extend Winning Streak

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, gathering almost 15 points or 0.2 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 6,860-point plateau and it's likely to move higher again on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism over inflation, demand and interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

The JCI finished slightly higher on Thursday following gains from the financials, weakness from the cement companies and a mixed picture from the resources.

For the day, the index added 12.48 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 6,857.42.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia climbed 1.07 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.40 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia dropped 0.84 percent, Bank Central Asia rose 0.29 percent, Bank Mandiri improved 1.24 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia advanced 1.27 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison sank 0.73 percent, Indocement retreated 1.33 percent, Semen Indonesia stumbled 1.38 percent, Indofood Suskes fell 0.40 percent, United Tractors rallied 2.72 percent, Energi Mega Persada plunged 2.34 percent, Aneka Tambang added 0.50 percent, Vale Indonesia slumped 1.44 percent, Timah climbed 1.27 percent, Bumi Resources gained 0.75 percent and Astra International and Astra Agro Lestari were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is upbeat as the major averages opened mixed but trended steadily upward throughout the session, with all finishing firmly in the green.

The Dow surged 341.75 points or 1.05 percent to finish at 33,003.57, while the NASDAQ advanced 83.50 points or 0.73 percent to end at 11,462.98 and the S&P 500 gained 29.96 points or 0.76 percent to close at 3,981.35.

The surge by the Dow reflected a spike by shares of Salesforce (CRM), with the cloud-based software company soaring 11.5 percent on better than expected Q4 results and upbeat guidance.

The markets also rebounded on comments from Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic, who said he strongly favors raising interest rates in only quarter-point increments.

Traders largely shrugged off a continue surge in treasury yields, which followed the release of a Labor Department report unexpectedly showing a modest decline in initial jobless claims last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday, extending gains from the previous session as optimism about higher demand from China outweighed concerns about inflation and interest rate hikes. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for April settled at $78.16 a barrel, gaining $0.47 or 0.6 percent.