Indonesia Bourse May Extend Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had eased almost 50 points or 0.7 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 7,180-point plateau and it's tipped to open in the green again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on rising optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished sharply higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index climbed 96.07 points or 1.36 percent to finish at 7,179.83 after trading between 7,082.12 and 7,192.15.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rallied 1.63 percent, while Bank Mandiri accelerated 2.82 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.75 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia jumped 1.93 percent, Bank Central Asia shed 0.52 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia strengthened 1.90 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison dropped 0.92 percent, Semen Indonesia tanked 2.37 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur retreated 1.21 percent, United Tractors slumped 1.11 percent, Astra International skidded 1.09 percent, Energi Mega Persada stumbled 2.03 percent, Aneka Tambang spiked 2.62 percent, Timah surged 4.97 percent, Bumi Resources tumbled 2.11 percent and Astra Agro Lestari, Indocement and Vale Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is strong as the major averages opened higher and remained in the green throughout, finishing near daily highs.

The Dow rallied 349.89 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 39,908.00, while the NASDAQ spiked 231.21 points or 1.40 percent to close at 16,742.29 and the S&P 500 jumped 61.47 points or 1.17 percent to end at 5,308.15.

The rally on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing consumer prices in the U.S. rose slightly less than expected in April.

Following Tuesday's hotter-than-expected producer price inflation data, the report added to recently renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

In other economic news, the Commerce Department said retail sales in the U.S. unexpectedly came in flat in April, versus forecasts for an increase of 0.4 percent.

Crude oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday, buoyed by soft inflation data and a report showing a bigger than expected drop in U.S. crude inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for June ended up by $0.61 or 0.78 percent at $78.63 a barrel.