Little Movement Seen For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Wednesday wrote a finish to the three-day losing streak in which it had stumbled almost 260 points or 3.6 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 7,700-point plateau and it's likely to remain in that neighborhood again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets offers little guidance ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European and U.S. markets were mixed to lower and the Asian bourses re likely to follow that lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial, food and telecom sectors were capped by weakness from the cement and resource companies.

For the day, the index gained 70.40 points or 0.92 percent to finish at 7,699.01 after trading between 7,661.28 and 7,726.38.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.30 percent, while Bank Mandiri jumped 2.09 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia shed 0.40 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia added 0.49 percent, Bank Central Asia accelerated 3.65 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia rallied 2.37 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison spiked 2.70 percent, Indocement retreated 1.44 percent, Semen Indonesia skidded 1.09 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur climbed 1.02 percent, United Tractors plunged 3.12 percent, Astra International dropped 0.90 percent, Energi Mega Persada sank 0.83 percent, Astra Agro Lestari stumbled 2.02 percent, Aneka Tambang plummeted 4.10 percent, Vale Indonesia tanked 2.03 percent, Timah slumped 1.36 percent and Bumi Resources lost 0.91 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is murky as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday and trended generally downward before finishing on opposite sides of the line.

The Dow stumbled 220.42 points or 0.48 percent to finish at 45,490.92, while the NASDAQ rose 6.57 points or 0.03 percent to close at 21,886.06 and the S&P 500 added 19.43 points or 0.30 percent to end at 6,532.04.

The early strength on Wall Street followed the release of a Labor Department report showing a modest decrease in U.S. producer prices in August. The data added to recent optimism about the Federal Reserve lowering interest rates by at next week's monetary policy meeting.

Buying waned over the course of the session, however, as traders looked ahead to the release of the Labor Department's report on consumer price inflation later today - which may also have a significant effect on the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil surged on Wednesday on geopolitical tensions in the Middle East and Europe, along with inflation data from the U.S. that has reinforced interest rate cut expectations. West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery was up $1.07 or 1.71 percent at $63.70 per barrel.