Win Streak May Continue For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in three straight sessions, improving almost 200 points or 2.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,150-point plateau and it's expected to add to its winnings again on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on an improved outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were solidly higher and the Asian bourses are expected to open in similar fashion.

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

For the day, the index added 47.14 points or 0.66 percent to finish at 7,154.66 after trading between 7,084.30 and 7,178.81.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.57 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia sank 0.78 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia shed 0.67 percent, Bank Central Asia rallied 1.54 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia tumbled 1.68 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia dropped 0.96 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison tanked 2.98 percent, Indocement slumped 0.82 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur rose 0.33 percent, United Tractors advanced 0.96 percent, Astra International strengthened 1.23 percent, Energi Mega Persada stumbled 1.60 percent, Astra Agro Lestari added 0.42 percent, Vale Indonesia fell 0.56 percent, Timah gained 0.47 percent, Bumi Resources plunged 4.03 percent and Bank Mandiri, Semen Indonesia. Aneka Tambang and Jasa Marga were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is broadly upbeat as the major averages opened solidly higher on Friday and stayed that way throughout the trading day, ending near session highs.

The Dow jumped 334.73 points or 0.78 percent to finish at 43,487.83, while the NASDAQ rallied 291.90 points or 1.51 percent to close at 19.630.20 and the S&P 500 advanced 59.30 points or 1.00 percent to end at 5,996.66.

For the week, the Dow soared 3.7 percent, the S&P jumped 2.9 percent and the NASDAQ climbed 2.5 percent.

Stocks benefitted from the recent decrease by treasury yields even as the yield on the benchmark ten-year note recovered from an early slump to end the day roughly flat. The recent retreat by treasury yields came as the U.S. inflation data released over the past few days led to renewed optimism about the outlook for interest rates.

Adding to the interest rate optimism, Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller told CNBC the central bank could lower interest rates multiple times this year if inflation eases as he is expecting.

Crude oil prices showed a notable move to the downside on Friday, extending the sharp pullback seen in the previous session. West Texas Intermediate for February delivery was down $0.80 or 1 percent to $77.88 a barrel on Friday; for the week, crude rose about 1 percent.