Rebound Called For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Wednesday ended the four-day winning streak in which it had rallied almost 130 points or 1.6 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index sits just beneath the 8,170-point plateau although it's expected to open to the upside on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on optimism over the outlook for interest rates, and on support from technology shares. The European and U.S. markets were mostly up and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The JCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, cement companies and resource stocks. For the day, the index dipped 3.25 points or 0.04 percent to finish at 8,166.03 after trading between 8,044.93 and 8,224.64. Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.59 percent, while Bank Mandiri dropped 0.93 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia slumped 1.25 percent, Bank Central Asia tanked 2.64 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia added 0.27 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison spiked 5.51 percent, Indocement gained 0.38 percent, Semen Indonesia retreated 1.53 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rose 0.35 percent, United Tractors tumbled 1.66 percent, Astra International shed 0.43 percent, Energi Mega Persada soared 5.41 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.34 percent, Aneka Tambang surged 6.05 percent, Vale Indonesia rallied 4.94 percent, Timah stumbled 3.32 percent, Bumi Resources retreated 1.39 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is fairly positive as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday but moved generally higher through the day, although the Dow slipped back under water at the close.

The Dow eased 1.20 points or 0.00 percent to finish at 46,601.78. while the NASDAQ jumped 255.01 points or 1.12 percent to close at 23,043.38 and the S&P 500 gained 39.13 points or 0.58 percent to end at 6,753.72.

The strength on Wall Street reflected a notable advance by shares of AI darling Nvidia (NVDA), which surged to a record high on reports of increased demand.

Stocks saw continued strength even after the minutes of the Federal Reserve's September revealed participants expressed a range of views about the likely future path of monetary policy.

Most judged that it likely would be appropriate to ease policy further over the remainder of this year, the Fed said, although some noted financial conditions warrant a cautious approach in the consideration of future policy changes.

Crude oil surged on Wednesday, extending gains from the past two sessions after OPEC said it would affect only a modest hike in production next month. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.89 or 1.44 percent at $62.62 per barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will release August figures for retail sales later today; in July, sales were up 4.7 percent on year.