Indonesia Bourse Has Flat Lead For Thursday

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the two-day slide in which it had plunged almost 250 points or 3.3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 7,300-point plateau and it's likely to remain rangebound again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky on a mixed outlook for interest rates. The European and U.S. markets were mixed and little changed and the Asian bourses are expected to follow that lead.

The JCI finished slightly lower on Wednesday following losses from the food companies and mixed performances from the financial, cement and resource sectors.

For the day, the index dipped 13.31 points or 0.18 percent to finish at 7,308.67 after trading between 7,304.87 and 7,370.39.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.56 percent, while Bank Mandiri improved 0.78 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia sank 0.79 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia added 0.61 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia jumped 1.78 percent, Bank Maybank Indonesia dropped 0.89 percent, Indocement tumbled 1.77 percent, Semen Indonesia rallied 2.50 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur retreated 1.59 percent, United Tractors declined 1.22 percent, Astra International climbed 1.11 percent, Energi Mega Persada spiked 2.16 percent, Astra Agro Lestari stumbled 1.87 percent, Aneka Tambang plunged 4.15 percent, Jasa Marga tanked 2.76 percent, Vale Indonesia strengthened 1.63 percent, Timah soared 1.86 percent, Bumi Resources plummeted 5.75 percent and Bank Central Asia and Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street offers little clarity as the major averages opened slightly higher on Wednesday but quickly faded and wound up mixed and little changed.

The Dow added 47.21 points or 0.11 percent to finish at 43,958.19, while the NASDAQ sank 50.66 points or 0.26 percent to close at 19,230.74 and the S&P 500 perked 1.39 points or 0.02 percent to end at 5,985.38.

The choppy trading on Wall Street came following the release of closely watched consumer price inflation data that came in line with estimates.

While the data increased confidence that the Federal Reserve will continue lowering interest rates next month, inflation remaining somewhat sticky led to uncertainty about the likelihood of future rate cuts.

CME Group's FedWatch Tool is currently indicating an 82.3 percent chance of another quarter point rate cut in December but a 60.2 percent chance rates will then be left unchanged in January.

Oil prices climbed higher on Wednesday thanks to short covering after recent sharp losses, while a firm dollar also weighed. West Texas Intermediate crude oil futures for December closed up $0.31 or 0.46 percent at $68.43 a barrel.