Little Movement Expected For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Wednesday ended the five-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 540 points or 7.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 6,650-point plateau and it's expected to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft thanks to concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mostly lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financials, telecoms and resource stocks, while the cement companies were soft.

For the day, the index jumped 113.79 points or 1.74 percent to finish at the daily high of 6,645.78 after trading as low as 6,537.48.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.60 percent, while Bank Mandiri improved 1.23 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia rose 0.40 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia skyrocketed 5.65 percent, Bank Central Asia advanced 0.83 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia added 0.50 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia climbed 1.04 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison accelerated 7.08 percent, Indocement tumbled 1.90 percent, Semen Indonesia slumped 1.54 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur strengthened 1.30 percent, United Tractors jumped 1.84 percent, Astra International added 0.65 percent, Energi Mega Persada shed 0.51 percent, Aneka Tambang fell 0.36 percent, Jasa Marga surged 4.36 percent, Timah soared 3.23 percent, Bumi Resources rallied 3.13 percent and Vale Indonesia and Astra Agro Lestari were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened lower and largely stayed that way, although the NASDAQ peeked up into the green by the close.

The Dow dropped 225.09 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 44,368.56, while the NASDAQ perked 6.10 points or 0.03 percent to close at 19,649.95 and the S&P 500 lost 16.53 points or 0.27 percent to end at 6,051.97.

The early sell-off on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. increased by more than expected in January.

The hotter than expected inflation data increased speculation the Federal Reserve will leave interest rates on hold for a prolonged period.

Oil prices fell sharply on Wednesday, weighed down by data showing a larger than expected increase in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures settled lower by $1.95 or about 2.66 percent at $71.37 a barrel, falling after three successive days of gains.