Soft Start Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in back-to-back sessions, advancing almost 75 points or 0.9 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index sits just beneath the 8,120-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as the U.S. government shutdown continues. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index gained 47.22 points or 0.59 percent to finish at the daily high of 8,118.30 after moving as low as 8,076.60.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga climbed 1.19 percent, while Bank Mandiri skidded 1.15 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia shed 0.42 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.33 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia lost 0.54 percent, Indocement rose 0.38 percent, Semen Indonesia sank 0.73 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur jumped 1.78 percent, United Tractors strengthened 1.34 percent, Astra International rallied 2.19 percent, Astra Agro Lestari added 0.31 percent, Aneka Tambang spiked 2.89 percent, Vale Indonesia gained 0.46 percent, Timah skyrocketed 18.02 percent, Bumi Resources slumped 1.23 percent and Bank Negara Indonesia, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Energi Mega Persada were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened higher on Friday but went off in different directions to finish mixed.

The Dow jumped 238.58 points or 0.51 percent to finish at a record 46,758.28, while the NASDAQ sank 63.59 points or 0.28 percent to end at 22,780.51 and the S&P 500 perked 0.44 points or 0.01 percent to close at 6,715.79, also a record. For the week, the NASDAQ rallied 1.3 percent, while the Dow and the S&P both rose 1.1 percent.

The NASDAQ sank on weakness from technology shares such as Palantir (PLTR), Tesla (TSLA) and Nvidia (NVDA).

The lackluster performance by the broader markets came as the ongoing U.S. government shutdown has led to the indefinite delay of key U.S. economic data, including Friday's closely watched monthly jobs report.

However, weak data from non-government sources has increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue cutting interest rates in the coming months.

Crude oil prices advanced on Friday amid U.S. dollar weakness as the government shutdown persisted. West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery was up $0.41 or 0.68 percent at $60.89 per barrel.