The Indonesia stock market on Friday wrote a finish to the two-day slide in which it had fallen more than 90 points or 1.5 percent. The Jakarta Composite Index now rests just above the 6,230-point plateau and it's likely to see little movement on Monday.
The global forecast for the Asian markets suggests a touch of upside, with stimulus optimism tempered by inflation concerns. The European markets were slightly higher and the U.S. bourses were mixed and flat - and the Asian markets figure to split the difference.
The JCI finished modestly higher on Friday following gains from the cement and telecom stocks, weakness from the resource companies and a mixed picture from the financials.
For the day, the index gathered 31.62 points or 0.51 percent to finish at the daily high of 6,231.93 after trading as low as 6,173.59.
Among the actives, Bank Danamon Indonesia advanced 0.95 percent, while Bank Mandiri rallied 2.00 percent, Bank CIMB Niaga shed 0.51 percent, Bank Negara Indonesia slid 0.41 percent, Bank Central Asia collected 1.34 percent, Indosat spiked 2.24 percent, Telkom Indonesia improved 0.94 percent, Astra International was up 0.87 percent, United Tractors added 0.44 percent, Indocement climbed 1.10 percent, Semen Indonesia gained 0.47 percent, Indofood Suskes rose 0.41 percent, Astra Agro Lestari skidded 1.13 percent, Aneka Tambang soared 3.60 percent, Vale Indonesia gathered 2.02 percent, Timah tumbled 2.93 percent and Bumi Resources plunged 3.33 percent.
The lead from Wall Street is uninspired as stocks were unable to hold early gains on Friday, finishing on opposite sides of the unchanged line.
The Dow rose 1.02 points or 0.01 percent to finish at 31,494.32, while the NASDAQ added 9.11 points or 0.07 percent to end at 13,874.46 and the S&P 500 dipped 7.26 points or 0.19 percent to close at 3,906.71. For the week, the Dow rose 0.1 percent, the NASDAQ sank 1.6 percent and the S&P fell 0.7 percent.
Continued optimism about more fiscal stimulus fueled the early strength on Wall Street, as new Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. urged lawmakers to approve President Joe Biden's $1.9 trillion relief package.
However, buying interest waned amid a jump in treasury yields, with the yield on the benchmark ten-year note reading its highest closing level in almost a year - spurring concerns for the outlook for interest rates amid potentially higher inflation.
In U.S. economic news, the National Association of Realtors reported another unexpected increase in U.S. existing home sales in January.
Crude oil prices drifted lower Friday as worries about supply disruptions eased after most of the oil companies in Texas prepared to resume production. West Texas Intermediate Crude oil futures for March ended lower by $1.28 or 2.1 percent at $59.24 a barrel.
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