Indonesia Shares May Open Under Pressure On Monday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in consecutive trading days, advancing more than 125 points or 1.7 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,335-point plateau although it's likely to turn lower on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky to lower, weighed by pessimism over the outlook for interest rates. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

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

For the day, the index added 32.26 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 7,335.54.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia slid 0.35 percent, while Bank Central Asia climbed 1.02 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia collected 0.41 percent, Indocement plunged 3.02 percent, Indofood Suskes perked 0.39 percent, United Tractors rose 0.22 percent, Astra International strengthened 1.46 percent, Vale Indonesia plummeted 7.75 percent, Jasa Marga Persero tanked 2.47 percent and Bank Mandiri, Bank Negara Indonesia and Semen Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened lower on Friday and spent most of the session in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow dropped 145.11 points or 0.37 percent to finish at 38,627.99, while the NASDAQ tumbled 130.55 points or 0.82 percent to close at 15,775.65 and the S&P 500 sank 24.16 points or 0.48 percent to end at 5,005.57.

The early weakness on Wall Street reflected renewed concerns about the outlook for interest rates following the release of a Labor Department report showing a bigger than expected increase in U.S. producer prices in January.

Following last week's hotter-than expected consumer price inflation figures, the data added to concerns the Federal Reserve will postpone cutting interest rates longer than investors had hoped.

However, the negative sentiment was partly offset by a separate report from the University of Michigan showing an uptick in consumer sentiment in February.

Oil price climbed higher on Friday, lifting the most active WTI Crude futures to a 11-week high, on concerns about potential supply disruptions in the Middle East. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended higher by $1.16 at $79.19 a barrel.