Rally May Stall For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has tracked higher in two straight sessions, gathering more than 50 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 6,880-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed and flat ahead of this week's rate decision from the FOMC. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow that lead.

The JCI finished slightly higher on Friday following gains from the cement stocks and mixed performances from the financials and resource plays.

For the day, the index added 16.61 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 6,880.80.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga climbed 1.26 percent, while Bank Mandiri collected 0.45 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.32 percent, Indocement jumped 1.72 percent, Semen Indonesia soared 3.73 percent, United Tractors added 0.51 percent, Astra International skidded 1.15 percent, Energi Mega Persada plunged 2.46 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rallied 2.24 percent, Aneka Tambang sank 0.75 percent, Vale Indonesia improved 0.76 percent, Timah tumbled 2.01 percent, Bumi Resources strengthened 1.43 percent and Bank Central Asia, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison, Indofood Suskes, Bank Negara Indonesia and Bank Rakyat Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little guidance as the major averages opened higher on Friday but faded as the day progressed, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 2.49 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 35,227.69, while the NASDAQ lost 30.49 points or 0.22 percent to close at 14,032.81 and the S&P 500 rose 1.47 points or 0.03 percent to end at 4,536.34.

With the uptick, the Dow closed higher for the 10th straight session and surged 2.1 percent for the week. The S&P 500 also climbed 0.7 percent for the week, while the NASDAQ fell 0.6 percent.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders seemed reluctant to make significant moves ahead of the Federal Reserve's highly anticipated monetary policy meeting this week.

With the Fed widely expected to raise interest rates by another 25 basis point, traders are likely to pay close attention to the accompanying statement for clues about the outlook for rates.

Oil futures settled higher on Friday, lifted by data showing a drop in U.S. crude inventories and recent announcements by Saudi Arabia and Russia about crude output reductions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for September rose $1.42 or 1.9 percent at 77.07 a barrel. WTI Crude futures gained 2.3 percent in the week.