Indonesia Shares Tipped To Remain Rangebound

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished higher in two of three trading days since the end of the three-day slide in which it had stumbled almost 220 points or 3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,250-point plateau although it's expected to hand back those gains on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft on renewed concerns over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were sharply lower and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished sharply higher on Thursday following gains from the financial shares, cement companies and resource stocks.

For the day, the index rallied 87.55 points or 1.22 percent to finish at the daily high of 7,254.40 after moving as low as 7,165.83.

Among the actives, Bank Mandiri jumped 1.48 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia added 0.36 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.47 percent, Bank Central Asia surged 3.41 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia strengthened 1.33 percent, Indocement perked 0.29 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur lost 0.76 percent, United Tractors sank 0.79 percent, Astra International retreated 1.43 percent, Vale Indonesia advanced 0.98 percent, Jasa Marga shed 0.45 percent, Bukit Asam rose 0.34 percent, Perusahaan Gas improved 0.37 percent and Semen Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly negative as the major averages opened higher on Thursday and spent much of the day in positive territory before a late plunge sent them deep into the red.

The Dow plummeted 530.16 points or 1.35 percent to finish at 38,596.98, while the NASDAQ tumbled 228.38 points or 1.40 percent to close at 16,049.08 and the S&P 500 sank 64.28 points or 1.23 percent to end at 5,147.21.

The late-day sell-off on Wall Street came amid a continued surge by the price of crude oil, which advanced for the fifth straight session and reached its highest levels since last October - raising concerns higher that energy prices will keep inflation elevated and convince the Federal Reserve to hold off on lowering interest rates.

Oil prices moved higher on Thursday, extending recent gains amid concerns about supply disruptions due to geopolitical tensions. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended higher by $1.16 or 1.4 percent at $86.59 a barrel, gaining for a fifth straight session.

Earlier in the session, stocks benefited from a positive reaction to a Labor Department report showing first-time claims for U.S. unemployment benefits rose by more than expected last week.

The advance by jobless claims generated some optimism about the outlook for interest rates, although the likelihood of a rate cut in June remains uncertain.