Indonesia Stock Market May See Additional Support On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the five-day losing streak in which it had tumbled more than 220 points or 3.1 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,240-point plateau and it may add to its winnings on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement and uncertainty thanks to the ongoing hostilities in the Middle East. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index rose 21.17 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 7,241.14 after trading between 7,205.76 and 7,271.87.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.58 percent, while Bank Mandiri jumped 1.94 percent, Bank Central Asia rallied 1.31 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia was up 1.74 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison climbed 1.04 percent, Indocement dipped 0.27 percent, Semen Indonesia added 0.40 percent, Indofood Suskes gained 0.39 percent, United Tractors spiked 2.58 percent, Astra International advanced 0.90 percent, Energi Mega Persada strengthened 1.65 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.35 percent, Aneka Tambang shed 0.61 percent, Vale Indonesia accelerated 1.95 percent, Timah sank 0.79 percent, Bumi Resources surged 2.20 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia, Kalbe Farma and Bank Negara Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is of little help as the major averages opened slightly higher on Friday but then hugged both sides of the line for the rest of the session, ending mixed and little changed.

The Dow sank 118.04 points or 0.31 percent to finish at 37,592.98, while the NASDAQ rose 2.58 points or 0.02 percent to close at 14,972.76 and the S&P 500 perked 3.59 points or 0.08 percent to end at 4,783.83. For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 3.1 percent, the S&P added 1.8 percent and the Dow rose 0.3 percent.

The Dow was weighed by earnings news from the likes of UnitedHealth (UNH), Bank of America (BAC), Wells Fargo (WFC) and JPMorgan Chase (JPM).

Traders were also reacting to a Labor Department report showing U.S. producer prices unexpectedly edged lower in December, adding to recent uncertainty about the outlook for interest rates.

Oil futures settled notably higher on Friday as an escalation in tensions in the Middle East raised concerns about delay in supplies. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February ended higher by $0.66 or 0.9 percent at $72.68 a barrel. For the week, the contract shed about 1.1 percent.

Closer to home, Indonesia will provide December figures for imports, exports and trade balance later today. In November, imports rose 3.29 percent on year and exports slumped an annual 8.56 percent to a trade surplus of $2.41 billion.