Indonesia Bourse May Give Up Support At 6,800 Points

The Indonesia stock market on Tuesday ended the three-day slide in which it had slumped more than 60 points or 0.8 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,810-point plateau, although it’s tipped to open in the red on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is cloudy and fairly flat amidst a lack of catalysts. The European markets were up and the U.S. bourses were mixed and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Tuesday following gains from the financial shares, cement stocks and resource companies.

For the day, the index gained 40.08 points or 0.59 percent to finish at 6,811.31.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga improved 0.77 percent, while Bank Negara Indonesia increased 0.54 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 0.28 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia gathered 0.41 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison climbed 1.13 percent, Indocement soared 4.29 percent, Semen Indonesia strengthened 1.65 percent, Indofood Suskes added 0.40 percent, United Tractors gained 0.66 percent, Astra International jumped 1.67 percent, Energi Mega Persada accelerated 1.71 percent, Astra Agro Lestari shed 0.60 percent, Aneka Tambang surged 4.46 percent, Vale Indonesia rallied 1.95 percent, Timah spiked 2.53 percent, Bumi Resources improved 0.81 percent and Bank Mandiri and Bank Danamon Indonesia were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street continues to be mixed as the Dow opened higher and stayed that way, the NASDAQ opened lower and stayed that way and the S&P 500 hugged the line all day and finished barely in the red.

The Dow added 98.27 points or 0.29 percent to finish at 33,684.79, while the NASDAQ shed 52.48 points or 0.43 percent to close at 12,031.88 and the S&P 500 eased 0.17 points or 0.00 percent to end at 4,108.94.

A lack of major U.S. economic data kept some traders on the sidelines ahead of the release of several key reports in the coming days.

The Labor Department’s report on consumer price inflation in the month of March is due to be released later today and could have a significant impact on the outlook for interest rates.

Crude oil prices surged Tuesday on optimism for additional Chinese economic stimulus after soft inflation data from China created room for its central bank to potentially ease its monetary policy. West Texas Intermediate crude for May delivery surged $1.79 to $81.53 a barrel.