Rally May Stall For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, collecting more than 40 points or 0.6 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,100-point plateau although it may run out of steam on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little clarity ahead of key U.S. employment data later this week. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The JCI finished slightly higher again on Tuesday as gains from the cement and energy companies were offset by weakness from the financials and resource stocks.

For the day, the index rose 7.25 points or 0.10 percent to finish at 7,100.85 after trading between 7,047.63 and 7,117.58.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga eased 0.29 percent, while Bank Mandiri lost 0.42 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia dipped 0.35 percent, Bank Central Asia slid 0.28 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slumped 0.91 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison climbed 1.08 percent, Indocement strengthened 1.34 percent, Semen Indonesia retreated 1.16 percent, Indofood Suskes jumped 1.97 percent, United Tractors tumbled 1.67 percent, Astra International shed 0.43 percent, Energi Mega Persada advanced 0.89 percent, Astra Agro Lestari sank 0.70 percent, Aneka Tambang fell 0.29 percent, Vale Indonesia plunged 2.04 percent, Timah declined 1.50 percent, Bumi Resources tanked 1.96 percent and Bank Negara Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is again inconsistent as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday. The NASDAQ quickly broke into the green and ended positive, but the Dow and S&P stayed in the red.

The Dow shed 79.88 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 36,124.56, while the NASDAQ gained 44.42 points or 0.31 percent to close at 14,229.91 and the S&P 500 fell 2.60 points or 0.06 percent to end at 4,567.18.

The initial weakness on Wall Street came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets amid concerns optimism about the outlook for interest rates has led to overbought conditions.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged in the coming months, traders may need more evidence to solidify hopes of a rate cut in the near future.

The subsequent rebound came as a Labor Department report may have reinforced those hopes, showing a bigger than expected decrease in U.S. job openings in October.

Oil prices dropped on Tuesday for a fourth straight session, on lingering concerns about the outlook for demand and on disappointment over the small size of additional output cuts announced by OPEC. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended down $0.72 or 1 percent at $72.32 a barrel.