Indonesia Stock Market May Spin Its Wheels On Friday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Thursday ended the two-day slide in which it had retreated more than 150 points or 2 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,165-point plateau although it may be stuck in neutral on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid a lack of catalysts, while concerns over the outlook for interest rates continue to persist. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Thursday following gains from the food companies and mixed performances from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index added 35.97 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 7,166.81 after trading between 7,135.52 and 7,180.56.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga dropped 0.98 percent, while Bank Mandiri rallied 2.64 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia collected 0.36 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia climbed 0.95 percent, Bank Central Asia lost 0.52 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia soared 3.30 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison and Vale Indonesia both advanced 0.94 percent, Indocement surrendered 2.66 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur strengthened 1.24 percent, United Tractors eased 0.20 percent, Astra International shed 0.49 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 3.57 percent, Astra Agro Lestari tumbled 1.84 percent, Aneka Tambang plunged 3.90 percent, Timah surged 4.17 percent and Bumi Resources and Semen Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street remains weak as the major averages were unable to hold early gains on Thursday, finished mixed with a downside bias.

The Dow rose 22.07 points or 0.06 percent to finish at 37,775.38, while the NASDAQ slumped 81.87 points or 0.52 percent to close at 15,601.50 and the S&P 500 sank 11.09 points or 0.22 percent to end at 5,011.12.

The early strength on Wall Street reflected bargain hunting as traders looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels following recent weakness. However, buying interest waned over the course of the session amid ongoing concerns about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to interest rate worries, the Philadelphia Federal Reserve released a report showing a considerable acceleration in the pace of growth in regional manufacturing activity in April.

Also, the National Association of Realtors released a report showing a sharp pullback by existing home sales in the U.S. last month.

Oil futures settled roughly flat on Thursday amid concerns about the outlook for global oil demand and on recent data showing a jump in crude oil inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May settled at $82.73 a barrel, up $0.04 from the previous close.