Indonesia Stock Market May Hand Back Tuesday’s Gains

The Indonesia stock market has moved higher in two of three trading days since the end of the two-day losing streak in which it had slipped more than 25 points or 0.4 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,820-point plateau although it may head south again on Wednesday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is murky amid mixed economic and earnings data. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and little changed and the Asian markets are expected to follow the latter lead.

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

For the day, the index added 34.23 points or 0.50 percent to finish at 6,821.81 after trading between 6,786.70 and 6,839.76.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga rallied 1.92 percent, while Bank Mandiri advanced 0.98 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia jumped 1.82 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia collected 0.26 percent, Bank Central Asia climbed 1.11 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia sank 0.80 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison improved 0.75 percent, Indocement perked 0.24 percent, Semen Indonesia shed 0.41 percent, Indofood Suskes added 0.40 percent, United Tractors spiked 1.89 percent, Astra International soared 3.21 percent, Energi Mega Persada plummeted 4.17 percent, Astra Agro Lestari rose 0.32 percent, Aneka Tambang dropped 0.94 percent, Vale Indonesia accelerated 2.33 percent, Timah surged 3.50 percent and Bumi Resources strengthened 1.67 percent.

The lead from Wall Street provides little guidance as the major averages opened mixed and hugged the unchanged line throughout the session, finally ending on opposite sides and barely moved.

The Dow shed 10.55 points or 0.03 percent to finish at 33,976.63, while the NASDAQ dipped 4.31 points or 0.04 percent to close at 12,153.41 and the S&P 600 rose 3.55 points or 0.09 percent to end at 4,154.87.

Traders were unhappy with remarks from St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank President James Bullard, who said that he favored continued interest-rate hikes to counter persistent inflation and added that recession fears are overblown.

In economic news, the Commerce Department said U.S. housing starts slid by 0.8 percent to an annual rate of 1.420 million in March from a revised rate of 1.432 million in February.

In earnings news, Bank of America, Johnson & Johnson and Netflix all beat the street, while Goldman Sachs and United Airlines missed expectations.

Oil futures settled slightly higher Tuesday as traders assessed Chinese GDP numbers and data showing a drop in eurozone and German investor sentiment. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for May rose $0.03 at $80.86 a barrel.