Soft Start Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished lower in two straight sessions, sinking almost 60 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,880-point plateau and it's expected to open in the red again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to lower thanks to continuing concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets are expected to split the difference.

The JCI finished slightly lower on Friday following mixed performances from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index fell 17.04 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 6,880.33.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia improved 0.70 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga sank 0.81 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia dipped 0.26 percent, Bank Central Asia dropped 0.84 percent, Bank Mandiri collected 0.49 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia rallied 1.04 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison advanced 0.85 percent, Indocement surged 4.56 percent, Semen Indonesia skyrocketed 5.80 percent, Indofood Suskes jumped 1.85 percent, Astra International added 0.44 percent, Energi Mega Persada soared 6.30 percent, Astra Agro Lestari gained 0.61 percent, Vale Indonesia climbed 0.70 percent, Bumi Resources retreated 1.44 percent and Aneka Tambang, United Tractors and Timah were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is inconsistent as the major averages opened lower on Friday, although only the NASDAQ ended the session in the red.

The Dow climbed 169.37 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 33,869.27, while the NASDAQ sank 71.48 points or 061 percent to end at 11,718.12 and the S&P 500 rose 8.96 points or 0.22 percent to close at 4,090.46.

For the week, the NASSDAQ tumbled 2.4 percent, the S&P lost 1.1 percent and the Dow dipped 0.2 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street reflected lingering uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates ahead of this week's closely watched inflation data.

Traders also reacted to mixed February consumer sentiment data released by the University of Michigan. While consumer sentiment saw a continued improvement in February, the report also showed a rebound in near-term inflation expectations.

Crude oil futures settled sharply higher Friday on continued optimism about higher fuel demand from China, and on Russia's move to reduce oil output next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.66 or 2.1 percent at $79.72 a barrel. WTI crude futures gained 9 percent in the week.