Higher Open Called For Indonesia Stock Market

(RTTNews) - The Indonesia stock market on Friday halted the four-day winning streak in which it had rallied more than 215 points or 3 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just beneath the 6,970-point plateau although it's expected to open in the green on Monday.

The global forecast for the Asian markets is mixed to higher on strong employment data from the United States. The European markets were down and the U.S. bourses were up and the Asian markets are expected to move mostly higher.

The JCI finished sharply lower on Friday following losses among the resource, food, finance and cement sectors.

For the day, the index plummeted 204.92 points or 2.86 percent to finish at the daily low of 6.969.40 after trading as high as 7,186.83.

Among the actives, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.59 percent, while Bank Mandiri dipped 0.22 percent, Bank Danamon Indonesia skyrocketed 11.08 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia tanked 3.02 percent, Bank Central Asia sank 0.80 percent, Bank Rakyat Indonesia retreated 1.51 percent, Indosat Ooredoo Hutchison soared 4.19 percent, Indocement surrendered 2.87 percent, Semen Indonesia dropped 3.26 percent, Indofood Sukses Makmur tumbled 2.11 percent, United Tractors plummeted 7.28 percent, Astra International fell 0.43 percent, Energi Mega Persada lost 5.32 percent, Astra Agro Lestari stumbled 3.59 percent, Aneka Tambang crashed 6.44 percent, Vale Indonesia cratered 13.89 percent, Timah plunged 14.88 percent and Bumi Resources slumped 6.09 percent.

The lead from Wall Street is mostly positive as the major averages opened higher on Friday and largely stayed that way, although the Dow spent the ay bouncing back and forth across the unchanged line.

The Dow rose 12.19 points or 0.02 percent to finish at 49,609.16, while the NASDAQ rallied 440.88 points or 1.71 percent to end at 26,247.08 and the S&P 500 gained 61.82 points or 0.84 percent to close at 7,398.93.

For the week, the NASDAQ spiked 4.4 percent, the S&P 500 jumped 2.3 percent and the Dow crept up 0.2 percent.

The strength on Wall Street came following the release of a closely watched Labor Department report showing much stronger than expected U.S. job growth in April.

The data helped ease concerns about the economic impact of the ongoing conflict in the Middle East even after the U.S. and Iran exchanged fire in the Strait of Hormuz.

Crude oil prices inched higher Friday as Middle East tensions renewed between the U.S. and Iran. Iran is also delaying its response to a U.S. peace proposal, adding to the uncertainty. West Texas Intermediate crude for June delivery was up $0.36 or 0.36 percent at $95.17 per barrel.

Closer to home, Indonesia will see April results for its consumer confidence index later today; in March, the index score was 122.9.