Steady Start Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has tracked higher in three straight sessions, advancing more than 80 points or 1 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 7,830-point plateau and it may tick higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is flat ahead of the Federal Reserve's monetary policy decision later today. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index gained 19.65 points or 0.25 percent to finish at 7,831.78 after trading between 7,802.27 and 7,854.02.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.52 percent, while Bank Mandiri spiked 2.06 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia improved 0.77 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia gained 0.44 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.72 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia dropped 0.85 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison lost 0.46 percent, Semen Indonesia rose 0.25 percent, United Tractors strengthened 1.23 percent, Astra Agro Lestari added 0.79 percent, Aneka Tambang spiked 3.37 percent, Jasa Marga soared 3.45 percent, Vale Indonesia jumped 1.36 percent, Timah rallied 2.49 percent, Bumi Resources surged 6.06 percent and Bank Rakyat Indonesia, Astra International, Indocement, Indofood Sukses Makmur, Kalbe Farma, Energi Mega Persada and Perusahaan Gas Negara were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened slightly higher on Tuesday, hugged the line for most of the day before ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 60.32 points or 0.14 percent to finish at 41,606.18, while the NASDAQ added 35.93 points or 0.20 percent to close at 17,628.06 and the S&P 500 perked 1.49 points or 0.03 percent to end at 5,634.58.

Optimism about the outlook for interest rates contributed to early strength on Wall Street, but buying interest waned over the course of the session.

Stocks ended the day little changed following the release of a Commerce Department report unexpectedly showing a modest increase by U.S. retail sales in the month of August.

While the data is positive for the economy, it was seen as reducing the likelihood the Federal Reserve will lower interest rates by 50 basis points when announcing its highly anticipated monetary policy decision later today.

Oil prices climbed higher on Tuesday as concerns about tight supply in the market offset continued uncertainty about the outlook for demand from China. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended higher by $1.10 or 1.5 percent at $71.19 a barrel.