Mild Upside Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved lower in two straight sessions, slipping almost 20 points or 0.3 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,060-point plateau although it's expected to open in the green on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky as the U.S. markets were shuttered on Thursday - while the European markets were roughly flat with an upside bias, and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished slightly lower on Thursday following losses from the resource and cement stocks and a mixed performance from the financial sector.

For the day, the index shed 15.76 points or 0.22 percent to finish at 7,064.59 after trading between 7,062.10 and 7,106.46.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga climbed 1.16 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.23 percent, Bank Central Asia jumped 1.81 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia slumped 1.23 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia and Indocement both tumbled 1.92 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison spiked 2.14 percent, Semen Indonesia surrendered 2.62 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rose 0.33 percent, United Tractors sank 0.79 percent, Astra International rallied 2.49 percent, Energi Mega Persada dropped 0.85 percent, Astra Agro Lestari lost 0.83 percent, Aneka Tambang shed 0.70 percent, Jasa Marga strengthened 1.81 percent, Vale Indonesia dipped 0.29 percent, Timah skidded 1.00 percent, Bumi Resources plummeted 6.09 percent and Bank Mandiri and Bank Danamon Indonesia were unchanged.

There is no lead from Wall Street as the U.S. financial markets were closed on Thursday in honor of former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who died in late December at age 100.

Investors are looking ahead to the release of the Labor Department's closely watched monthly jobs report later today, which will potentially provide additional clarity about the strength of the labor market.

Oil prices moved higher Thursday amid optimism about the outlook for global oil demand, and potential supply shortage due to the sanctions on Iranian and Russian crude exports. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled higher by $0.60 or 0.82 percent at $73.92 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will provide November data for retail sales later today; in October, sales were up 1.5 percent on year.