The Indonesia stock market on Thursday snapped the three-day winning streak in which it had collected almost 85 points or 1.4 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,005-point plateau, although it's expected to bounce higher again on Friday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets is positive on optimism the U.S. government will avoid a shutdown, and a bump in crude oil prices. The European and U.S. markets were up and the Asian bourses figure to open in similar fashion.
The JCI finished modestly lower on Thursday following losses from the financial shares and the resource stocks.
For the day, the index lost 28.67 points or 0.47 percent to finish at the daily low of 6,006.83 after peaking at 6,039.29. Volume was 10.97 billion shares worth 6.31 trillion rupiah. There were 186 decliners and 139 gainers, with 132 stocks finishing unchanged.
Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia dropped 1.35 percent, while Bank Mandiri tumbled 1.67 percent, Bumi Resources plunged 4.62 percent, Vale Indonesia added 0.75 percent, Astra Agro Lestari plummeted 2.62 percent, Tiga Pilar Sejahtera Foods surged 9.05 percent, Lotte Chemical soared 7.19 percent, XL Axiata skidded 1.01 percent, Voksel Electric shed 0.70 percent and Indocement, Indofood, Jasa Marga, Bank MNC Internasional and Bank Pan Indonesia all were unchanged.
The lead from Wall Street is firm as stocks saw moderate strength on Thursday, although they remained beneath their recent record closing highs.
The Dow rose 70.57 points or 0.29 percent to 24,211.48, while the NASDAQ advanced 36.47 points or 0.54 percent to 6,812.84 and the S&P 500 climbed 7.71 points or 0.29 percent to 2,636.98.
The strength reflected optimism about lawmakers passing a short-term spending bill to avoid a government shutdown ahead of Friday's deadline. However, traders continued to express uncertainty about the details of the Republican tax reform bill.
In economic news, the Labor Department noted an unexpected decrease in first-time claims for jobless benefits in the week ended December 2. Also, the Federal Reserve said that consumer credit jumped by $20.5 billion in October, beating estimates.
Crude oil futures rebounded Thursday, as traders bet this week's decline was overdone. WTI light sweet crude oil was up 76 cents at $56.72 a barrel, having slipped from near $60 over the past few weeks.
by RTT Staff Writer
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