Indonesia Stock Market May Tick Lower On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had fallen almost 40 points or 0.4 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,860-point plateau although it's expected to see little movement on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with earnings news possibly steering the markets. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 33.99 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 6,864.19.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rose 0.32 percent, while Bank Mandiri surged 3.27 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.64 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia rallied 1.69 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison climbed 1.13 percent, Indocement dropped 0.97 percent, Semen Indonesia skidded 1.11 percent, Indofood Suskes slid 0.34 percent, United Tractors added 0.52 percent, Astra International sank 0.76 percent, Energi Mega Persada skyrocketed 7.02 percent, Vale Indonesia jumped 1.95 percent, Timah gained 0.51 percent, Bumi Resources soared 5.26 percent and Bank Central Asia, Aneka Tambang, Astra Agro Lestari, Jasa Marga and Bank Rakyat Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent and uninspiring as the major averages opened and closed mixed on Thursday; the Dow opened higher and stayed that way, while the NASDAQ and S&P opened lower and remained in the red throughout.

The Dow climbed 163.97 points or 0.47 percent to finish at 35,225.18, while the NASDAQ tumbled 294.71 points or 2.05 percent to close at 14,063.31 and the S&P 500 sank 30.85 points or 0.68 percent to end at 4,534.87.

The sharp pullback by the Nasdaq came amid a negative reaction to earnings news from companies like Netflix (NFLX) and Tesla (TSLA). On the other hand, the narrower Dow benefitted from a spike from Johnson & Johnson (JNJ) after solid earnings news.

Traders also reacted to a Labor Department report showing that first-time claims for U.S. jobless benefits unexpectedly dipped last week.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Thursday and lifted the August series futures contract to a positive close on the expiration day amid fears of declining supplies from Russia. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August settled at $75.63 a barrel, gaining $0.28 or 0.4 percent.