Soft Start Predicted For Indonesia Stock Market

The Indonesia stock market has alternated between positive and negative finishes through the last four trading days since the end of the six-day winning streak in which it had surged more than 330 points or 6.5 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now sits just beneath the 6,050-point plateau although it’s likely to tick lower again on Thursday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is slightly soft ahead of key U.S. inflation data later today. The European markets were mixed and the U.S. bourses were down and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.

The JCI finished modestly higher on Wednesday following gains from the financial shares and resource stocks.

For the day, the index climbed 48.11 points or 0.80 percent to finish at the daily high of 6,047.48 after moving as low as 5,972.45.

Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia advanced 0.87 percent, while Bank CIMB Niaga collected 0.53 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia climbed 1.81 percent, Bank Central Asia gathered 1.56 percent, Bank Mandiri rallied 2.50 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia added 0.48 percent, Indosat surged 6.67 percent, Indocement tumbled 1.89 percent, Semen Indonesia spiked 2.21 percent, Indofood Suskes retreated 1.57 percent, United Tractors fell 0.21 percent, Astra International improved 0.95 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.28 percent, Aneka Tambang soared 4.68 percent, Vale Indonesia jumped 4.35 percent, Timah accelerated 4.35 percent and Bumi Resources and Jasa Marga were unchanged.

The lead from Wall Street suggests mild consolidation as stocks opened mixed on Wednesday, bounced back and forth across the unchanged line and eventually ended slightly lower.

The Dow dropped 152.68 points or 0.44 percent to finish at 34,447.14, while the NASDAQ dipped 13.16 points or 0.09 percent to end at 13,911.75 and the S&P 500 eased 7.71 points or 0.18 percent to close at 4,219.55.

The cautious trade on Wall Street reflected concerns over key inflation data that could prompt the Federal Reserve to begin discussions on tapering its asset buying program sooner than expected.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said wholesale inventories rose 0.8 percent on month to $ 698.0 billion in April after seeing a 1.2 percent increase in March.

Crude oil prices edged lower on Wednesday after data showed a jump in U.S. gasoline stockpiles last week. West Intermediate crude oil futures for July ended down $0.09 or 0.1 percent at $69.96 a barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will provide April numbers for retail sales later today; in March, sales plummeted 14.6 percent on year.