Indonesia Bourse May Find Traction On Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has tracked lower in back-to-back sessions, slumping more than 65 points or 0.8 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,310-point plateau although it may stop the bleeding on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is upbeat on continued optimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to follow suit.

The JCI finished modestly lower on Wednesday following weakness from the resource stocks and a mixed picture from the financial sector.

For the day, the index sank 55.57 points or 0.75 percent to finish at 7,310.09 after trading between 7,292.80 and 7,375.40.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga spiked 2.33 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia climbed 1.01 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia shed 0.42 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.25 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia sank 0.79 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison plunged 3.85 percent, Indocement added 0.57 percent, Semen Indonesia strengthened 1.28 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur lost 0.78 percent, United Tractors improved 1.23 percent, Astra International fell 0.47 percent, Energi Mega Persada dropped 0.91 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.36 percent, Aneka Tambang tumbled 1.80 percent, Vale Indonesia perked 0.25 percent, Timah slumped 0.62 percent and Bumi Resources and Bank Mandiri were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is positive as the major averages opened higher on Wednesday and largely stayed that way throughout the session.

The Dow surged 477.75 points or 1.22 percent to finish at 39,760.08, while the NASDAQ rallied 83.82 points or 0.51 percent to close at 16,399.52 and the S&P 500 gained 44.91 points or 0.86 percent to end at 5,248.49.

The strength on Wall Street came as traders again looked to pick up stocks at reduced levels after the previous day's mediocre performance.

A decrease by treasury yields also contributed to the strength in the markets amid ongoing optimism about the outlook for interest rates following the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement last week. While the Fed left interest rates unchanged, as expected, officials kept their forecast for three rate cuts this year.

Crude oil prices dropped on Wednesday after data showed an unexpected increase in U.S. crude and gasoline inventories last week. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May ended lower by $0.27 or 0.33 percent at $81.35 a barrel.

The markets are closed on Good Friday.