Indonesia Stock Market May Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last six trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had plummeted more than 540 points or 7.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 6,800-point plateau and it may tick to the upside again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets murky on an uncertain outlook for interest rates. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were slightly up and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Wednesday following heavy losses from the financials and telecoms and mixed performances from the cement and resource companies.

For the day, the index retreated 78.70 points or 1.15 percent to finish at 6,794.87.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga lost 1.17 percent, while Bank Mandiri dropped 5.05 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia slumped 1.18 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia cratered 4.84 percent, Bank Central Asia crashed 3.76 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia plummeted 3.13 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia shed 0.50 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison tumbled 1.73 percent, Semen Indonesia climbed 1.07 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur accelerated 2.58 percent, United Tractors jumped 1.92 percent, Astra International stumbled 2.08 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rallied 1.28 percent, Aneka Tambang strengthened 1.61 percent, Jasa Marga dropped 0.97 percent, Vale Indonesia plunged 3.34 percent, Timah tumbled 1.92 percent, Bumi Resources spiked 2.73 percent and Energi Mega Persada and Indocement were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened lower on Wednesday but trended upward throughout the day, finally ending mildly to the upside.

The Dow gained 71.25 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 44,627.59, while the NASDAQ rose 14.99 points or 0.07 percent to close at 20,056.25 and the S&P 500 perked 14.57 points or 0.24 percent to end at 6,144.15.

The rebound also came even though the minutes of the latest Federal Reserve meeting revealed that officials want to see further progress on inflation before they consider resuming lowering interest rates.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said housing starts pulled back by more than expected in January.

Oil futures settled higher Wednesday, extending gains from previous session amid concerns about the outlook for supplies after a recent drone attack by Ukraine on a Russian pumping station. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March rose $0.40 or 0.56 percent at $72.25 a barrel.