Indonesia Stock Market Tipped To Open In The Red

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two straight sessions, improving more than 150 points or 2.1 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,100-point plateau although it's expected to open to the downside on Friday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is soft, with oil and technology shares expected to lead the markets lower. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Thursday as gains from the financial shares were offset by weakness from the resource and cement companies.

For the day, the index added 27.96 points or 0.39 percent to finish at 7,107.52 after trading between 7,071.91 and 7,190.61.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga climbed 1.16 percent, while Bank Mandiri spiked 2.17 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia rallied 2.04 percent, Bank Central Asia shed 0.51 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia collected 1.71 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia advanced 0.97 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison slumped 1.26 percent, Semen Indonesia skidded 1.04 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur retreated 1.62 percent, United Tractors jumped 1.85 percent, Astra International declined 1.21 percent, Astra Agro Lestari fell 0.42 percent, Aneka Tambang lost 0.65 percent, Jasa Marga strengthened 1.42 percent, Vale Indonesia stumbled 1.64 percent, Timah dropped 0.93 percent, Bumi Resources improved 1.64 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia, Indocement and Energi Mega Persada were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street is negative as the major averages opened slightly higher on Thursday but quickly turned lower, spending most of the day in the red before finishing under water.

The Dow sank 68.42 points or 0.16 percent to finish at 43,153.13, while the NASDAQ slumped 172.95 points or 0.89 percent to close at 19,338.29 and the S&P 500 slipped 12.57 points or 0.21 percent to end at 5,937.34.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders took a step back to assess the near-term outlook for the markets following Wednesday's rally, which saw the major averages post their largest daily percentage gains in over two months.

Traders were also digesting a slew of U.S. economic data, including reports on weekly jobless claims, retail sales and import prices.

The data was largely in line with expectations and maintained optimism that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates in the first half of this year.

Oil prices fell sharply on Thursday after Israel and Hamas agreed to implement a ceasefire agreement that was drafted and approved by the UN Security Council. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for February settled lower by $1.36 or 1.7 percent at $78.68 a barrel.