Soft Start Anticipated For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has tracked higher in two straight sessions, advancing more than 45 points or 0.7 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just shy of the 7,180-point plateau although it's likely to open in the red on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is broadly negative on inflation and interest rate concerns. The European and U.S. markets were down on Wednesday and now the Asian markets are expected to open in similar fashion.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and cement companies, while the resource stocks were mixed.

For the day, the index gained 19.12 points or 0.27 percent to finish at 7,178.59.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia rose 0.38 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia climbed 1.19 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.31 percent, Bank Mandiri rallied 2.31 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia jumped 1.88 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison shed 0.69 percent, Indocement strengthened 1.61 percent, Semen Indonesia gained 0.76 percent, Indofood Suskes plunged 4.23 percent, United Tractors improved 1.58 percent, Astra International climbed 1.09 percent, Energi Mega Persada soared 3.17 percent, Astra Agro Lestari advanced 0.83 percent, Aneka Tambang perked 0.25 percent, Vale Indonesia fell 0.41 percent, Timah sank 0.99 percent, Bumi Resources surged 5.00 percent and Bank CIMB Niaga was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is soft as the major averages shook off a positive open on Wednesday, hugging the line for much of the day before a late slide pushed them firmly into the red for the fourth straight session.

The Dow tumbled 280.44 points or 0.88 percent to finish at 31,510.43, while the NASDAQ slumped 66.93 points or 0.56 percent to close at 11,816.20 and the S&P 500 sank 31.16 points or 0.78 percent to end at 3,955.00.

The continued weakness on Wall Street reflected lingering concerns about higher interest rates following some hawkish comments from Federal Reserve officials.

Exacerbating those concerns, Eurozone inflation hit a new record in August and added further pressure on the European Central Bank to tighten policy more aggressively as soon as next week.

In economic news, payroll processor ADP said that private sector employment in the U.S. increased by much less than expected in August.

Crude oil prices saw further downside on Wednesday, extending recent losses on concerns about the outlook for the global economy after the Eurozone's record high inflation report. West Texas Intermediate for October delivery tumbled $2.09 or 2.3 percent to $89.55 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will provide August numbers for consumer prices later today. Overall inflation is expected to fall 0.05 percent on month and rise 4.9 percent on year after gaining 0.64 percent on month and 4.94 percent on year in July. Core CPI is expected to rise 3.0 percent on year, up from 2.86 percent in the previous month.