Soft Start Anticipated For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, collecting almost 100 points or 1.3 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,740-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky, with easing recession concerns offset by the worsening outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian bourses figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index jumped 87.63 points or 1.32 percent to finish at 6,740.22.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga climbed 1.01 percent, while Bank Central Asia gained 0.70 percent, Bank Mandiri collected 0.67 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia soared 3.70 percent, Indosat tumbled 1.94 percent, Indocement added 0.55 percent, Semen Indonesia improved 0.75 percent, Indofood Suskes accelerated 1.81 percent, United Tractors spiked 2.52 percent, Astra International rose 0.42 percent, Energi Mega Persada dropped 0.86 percent, Bakrie Sumatera Plantations strengthened 1.65 percent, Astra Agro Lestari jumped 1.86 percent, Aneka Tambang fell 0.29 percent, Vale Indonesia surged 4.95 percent, Timah increased 0.76 percent and Bumi Resources, Bank Danamon Indonesia and Bank Negara Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages bounced back and forth across the unchanged line on Friday, finally ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow shed 46.45 points or 0.15 percent to finish at 31,338.15m while the NASDAQ rose 14.01 points or 0.12 percent to end at 11,635.31 and the S&P 500 dipped 3.24 points or 0.08 percent to close at 3,899.38. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.6 percent, the S&P jumped 1.9 percent and the Dow rose 0.8 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street followed the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing stronger than expected U.S. job growth in June.

The data eased worries about the economy, but it also added to concerns about aggressive interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

Crude oil prices climbed higher Friday, gaining for a second straight day after the stronger than expected jobs report. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for August jumped $2.06 or 2 percent at $104.79 a barrel, but WTI crude futures shed more than 3 percent in the week.

Closer to home, Indonesia will see May figures for retail sales later today; in April, sales jumped 8.5 percent on year.