The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in four straight sessions, gathering more than 140 points or 2.4 percent along the way. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,170-point plateau although it may spin its wheels on Thursday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft on inconsistent data and profit taking. The European and U.S. markets were slightly lower and the Asian bourses are predicted to open in similar fashion.
The JCI finished slightly higher on Wednesday as gains from the financial shares and cement companies were capped by weakness from the resource stocks.
For the day, the index rose 11.43 points or 0.19 percent to finish at 6,169.59 after trading between 6,143.85 and 6,183.58.
Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia climbed 1.09 percent, while Bank Mandiri collected 0.76 percent, Bank Central Asia added 0.65 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia jumped 1.40 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia advanced 1.27 percent, Indosat accelerated 1.53 percent, Indocement gained 1.40 percent, Semen Indonesia soared 2.02 percent, Indofood Suskes fell 0.33 percent, United Tractors tumbled 2.63 percent, Bumi Resources gathered 1.20 percent, Aneka Tambang skidded 2.54 percent, Vale Indonesia plunged 2.45 percent and Timah sank 1.11 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as stocks showed a lack of direction on Wednesday, bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line before ending in the red.
The Dow shed 22.82 points or 0.08 percent to end at 27,001.98, the NASDAQ lost 24.52 points or 0.30 percent to 8,124.18 and the S&P 500 fell 5.99 points or 0.20 percent to 2,989.69.
The choppy trading on Wall Street came as traders digested mixed U.S. economic data as well as the latest batch of earnings news.
The Commerce Department noted an unexpected decrease in U.S. retail sales in September, which raised some concerns about the economic outlook but also added to optimism about further interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Also, the National Association of Home Builders said homebuilder confidence climbed to its highest level in well over a year in October, while the Federal Reserve released its Beige Book, which said the U.S. economy expanded at only a slight to modest pace over the past month.
Despite persisting concerns about the outlook for energy demand, crude oil prices edged higher on Wednesday amid expectations OPEC will continue to cut output. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for November ended up $0.55 or 1 percent at $53.36 a barrel.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com