Rally May Stall For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 50 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,980-point plateau although it's expected to open in the red on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares, cement companies and resource stocks.

For the day, the index rose 23.46 points or 0.34 percent to finish at 6,982.79.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga surged 5.18 percent, while Bank Mandiri jumped 1.72 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.26 percent, Bank Central Asia skidded 1.10 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slumped 0.92 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison climbed 1.01 percent, Indocement retreated 1.38 percent, Indofood Suskes improved 0.75 percent, United Tractors soared 3.74 percent, Astra International fell 0.40 percent, Energi Mega Persada strengthened 1.42 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rallied 1.34 percent, Vale Indonesia advanced 0.85 percent, Timah tumbled 1.84 percent, Bumi Resources gained 0.74 percent and Aneka Tambang, Bank Danamon Indonesia and Semen Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is weak as the major averages opened lower on Friday and worsened as the day progressed, ending near session lows.

The Dow tumbled 288.86 points or 0.83 percent to finish at 34,618.86, while the NASDAQ plunged 217.76 points or 1.56 percent to close at 13,708.33 and the S&P 500 sank 54.78 points or 1.22 percent to end at 4,450.32.

For the week, the Dow rose 0.1 percent, the NASDAQ fell 0.4 percent and the S&P dipped 0.2 percent.

The pullback on Wall Street reflected profit taking ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting. The Fed is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged this week, but the latest batch of U.S. economic data reignited concerns about the possibility of future rate hikes.

The Labor Department said on Friday that import and export prices rose significantly more than expected, while the New York Fed noted a big jump in New York manufacturing activity this month - all of which bode ill for the outlook for interest rates.

Oil prices climbed higher on Friday, rising on optimism over the outlook for Chinese demand after reports showed Chinese refiners broke refining rate records in August. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $0.61 or 0.7 percent at $90.77 a barrel.