Rally May Stall For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting almost 160 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,380-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is weak on lingering concerns over tariffs and the health of the world economy. The European and U.S. markets both were slightly lower and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The JCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the energy and cement stocks and mixed performances from the financial shares and resource companies.

For the day, the index climbed 70.01 points or 1.11 percent to finish at 6,381.67.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga fell 0.31 percent, while Bank Mandiri retreated 1.28 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia stumbled 2.16 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.60 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia declined 1.35 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia shed 0.51 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison plunged 4.08 percent, Indocement advanced 0.89 percent, Semen Indonesia improved 0.90 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur tanked 2.43 percent, United Tractors strengthened 1.34 percent, Astra International added 0.43 percent, Energi Mega Persada climbed 1.23 percent, Astra Agro Lestari lost 0.44 percent, Aneka Tambang dropped 0.90 percent, Jasa Marga rallied 1.30 percent, Vale Indonesia plummeted 4.17 percent, Timah cratered 2.59 percent and Bumi Resources and Bank Danamon Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, slipping slightly under water by the close.

The Dow shed 11.31 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 41,953.32m while the NASDAQ lost 59.16 points or 0.33 percent to close at 17,691.16 and the S&P 500 fell 12.40 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,662.89.

The modestly lower close on Wall Street came amid lingering concerns about the economic outlook following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement on Wednesday.

The Fed announced its widely expected decision to leave interest rates unchanged, but forecasts suggest officials still expect to resume cutting rates later this year.

However, the Fed officials also lowered their projections for GDP growth in 2025 to 1.7 percent from 2.1 percent and raised their forecasts for consumer price growth this year to 2.7 percent from 2.5 percent.

Oil prices climbed higher on Thursday after the U.S. slapped fresh sanctions on Iran. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for April closed higher by $1.10 or about 1.6 percent at $68.26 a barrel on the expiration day.