Rally May Stall For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 175 points or 2.7 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just shy of the 6,770-point plateau although investors may cash in on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower, with earnings news likely to guide investors. The European and U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow suit.

The JCI finished sharply higher on Tuesday following gains from the finance, resource and energy stocks, weakness from the cement companies.

For the day, the index advanced 79.28 points or 1.19 percent to finish at 6,767.34 after trading between 6,690.89 and 6,801.87.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia strengthened 1.56 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga fell 0.43 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia advanced 1.71 percent, Bank Central Asia rallied 2.15 percent, Bank Mandiri surged 4.84 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia collected 0.88 percent, Indocement tanked 2.68 percent, Semen Indonesia tumbled 2.36 percent, Indofood Suskes jumped 1.87 percent, United Tractors improved 0.41 percent, Astra International dropped 0.89 percent, Energi Mega Persada accelerated 2.21 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.31 percent, Aneka Tambang soared 4.13 percent, Vale Indonesia spiked 2.01 percent, Timah skyrocketed 5.28 percent, Bumi Resources gained 0.68 percent and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday, saw a mild recovery but only the NASDAQ managed to end in the green.

The Dow tumbled 391.76 points or 1.14 percent to finish at 33,910.85, while the NASDAQ rose 15.96 points or 0.14 percent to end at 11,095.11 and the S&P 500 dipped 8.12 points or 0.20 percent to close at 3,990.97.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders expressed some uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following recent strength.

A steep drop by Goldman Sachs (GS) weighed on the Dow after the company reported earnings that missed estimates. Travelers (TRV) also missed, while Morgan Stanley (MS) beat the street.

In economic news, the New York Federal Reserve noted a significant contraction in regional manufacturing activity in January.

Crude oil futures settled higher on Tuesday on expectations of a jump in demand following better than expected Chinese GDP data. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.32 or 0.4 percent at $80.18 a barrel, the highest settlement since December 30.