Indonesia Bourse May Hand Back Wednesday's Gains

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market bounced higher again on Wednesday, one day after ending the two-day winning streak in which it had advanced almost 70 points or 0.9 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just above the 7,670-point plateau although it may head south again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests little movement ahead of key U.S. unemployment data on Friday. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat and the Asian markets figure to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index gained 56.38 points or 0.74 percent to finish at the daily high of 7,672.90 after moving as low as 7,546.05.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga sank 0.80 percent, while Bank Mandiri strengthened 1.41 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia dipped 0.47 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 1.23 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia declined 1.45 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia stumbled 1.69 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison surged 5.12 percent, Indocement surrendered 2.86 percent, Semen Indonesia weakened 1.24 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur skidded 1.11 percent, United Tractors fell 0.45 percent, Astra International retreated 1.46 percent, Energi Mega Persada dropped 1.94 percent, Astra Agro Lestari tumbled 1.63 percent, Aneka Tambang fell 1.82 percent, Jasa Marga lost 0.48 percent, Vale Indonesia was down 1.60 percent, Timah gave up 1.99 percent, Bumi Resources climbed 1.02 percent and Bank Danamon Indonesia was unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened mixed on Wednesday, hugged the line for most of the day and finished mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 38.04 points or 0.09 percent to finish at 40,974.97, while the NASDAQ lost 52.00 points or 0.30 percent to close at 17,084.30 and the S&P 500 dipped 8.86 points or 0.16 percent to end at 5,520.07.

The lackluster performance on Wall Street reflected uncertainty about the near-term outlook for the markets following the substantial volatility seen over the past couple months.

Stocks have shown a substantial rebound or late, but are hampered by lingering concerns about the outlook for the economy.

Oil prices tumbled on Wednesday amid rising concerns about the outlook for demand following reports that OPEC is planning to restore 180,000 barrels per day of voluntary production cuts beginning next month. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for October ended down $1.14 or 1.6 percent at 69.20 a barrel, a nine-month low.