Indonesia Bourse May Extend Winning Streak

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has finished higher in four straight sessions, climbing more than 125 points or 1.8 percent in that span. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,040-point plateau and it's called to open higher again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cautiously optimistic over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were mixed and little changed and the U.S. bourses were slightly higher and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher again on Tuesday following mixed performances from the financial shares, resource companies and cement stocks.

For the day, the index added 27.67 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 7,041.07 after trading between 7,014.71 and 7,067.14.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga fell 0.29 percent, while Bank Danamon Indonesia climbed 1.07 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia tanked 1.90 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison shed 0.54 percent, Indocement rose 0.27 percent, Semen Indonesia retreated 1.54 percent, Indofood Suskes lost 0.39 percent, United Tractors perked 0.22 percent, Astra International stumbled 1.33 percent, Energi Mega Persada skyrocketed 7.48 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rallied 1.40 percent, Aneka Tambang spiked 2.16 percent, Vale Indonesia plunged 3.10 percent, Timah tumbled 1.60 percent, Bumi Resources soared 3.74 percent and Bank Mandiri, Bank Central Asia and Bank Rakyat Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild upside as the major averages opened lower on Tuesday and spent much of the day bouncing back and forth across the line before ending modestly higher.

The Dow gained 83.51 points or 0.24 percent to finish at 35,416.98, while the NASDAQ added 40.73 points or 0.29 percent to close at 14,281.76 and the S&P 500 rose 4.46 points or 0.10 percent to end at 4,554.89.

The choppy performance on Wall Street was the result of conflicting commentary regarding interest rates from Federal Reserve governors Christopher Waller and Michelle Bowman.

Speaking at an American Enterprise Institute event, Waller said he is "increasingly confident that policy is currently well positioned to slow the economy and get inflation back to 2 percent."

But then Bowman said during a Utah Bankers Association and Salt Lake Chamber breakfast that she continues to expect the Fed we will need to increase rates further to keep policy sufficiently restrictive to bring inflation down to 2 percent.

Crude oil prices rose sharply Tuesday on hopes that OPEC will extend output cuts at Thursday's ministerial meeting. A weak dollar contributed as well to the jump in oil prices. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for January ended up $1.55 or 2.1 percent at $76.41 a barrel.