Indonesia Bourse May Run Out Of Steam On Wednesday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, gathering more than 135 points or 2 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,450-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is negative, with weakness expected from the computer, semiconductor and housing sectors. The European and U.S. markets were down and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday as gains from resource stocks and cement companies were capped by weakness from the financials.

For the day, the index rose 15.56 points or 0.21 percent to finish at 7,453.29 after trading between 7,396.79 and 7,457.81.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga skidded 1.10 percent, while Bank Mandiri slumped 1.18 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia fell 0.38 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia rallied 2.00 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia shed 0.68 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia dropped 0.91 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison fell 0.40 percent, Indocement rose 0.36 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur lost 0.61 percent, United Tractors dropped 1.05 percent, Energi Mega Persada jumped 1.64 percent, Astra Agro Lestari improved 1.21 percent, Aneka Tambang skyrocketed 9.06 percent, Jasa Marga retreated 1.55 percent, Vale Indonesia surged 3.87 percent, Timah soared 3.88 percent, Bumi Resources spiked 4.23 percent and Bank Central Asia, Semen Indonesia and Astra International were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages opened flat on Tuesday and hugged the line for most of the session before sinking firmly into the red late in the day.

The Dow dropped 154.10 points or 0.35 percent to finish at 44,247.83, while the NASDAQ sank 49.45 points or 0.25 percent to close at 19,687.24 and the S&P 500 fell 17.94 points or 0.30 percent to end at 6,034.91.

The weakness that emerged on Wall Street came as traders continued to cash in on recent strength in the markets ahead of the release of the Labor Department's closely watched report on consumer price inflation later today.

While the Federal Reserve is widely expected to lower rates by another 25 basis points next week, the data could impact the outlook for future rate cuts by the central bank.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 86.1 percent chance the Fed will lower rates by a quarter point next week but a 69.1 percent chance the central bank will then leave rates unchanged in late January.

Oil futures settled higher on Tuesday amid hopes that demand from China will increase following recent stimulus measures announced by the Chinese government. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January closed up $0.22 or 0.32 percent at $68.59 a barrel.