MANILA – Local shares gained anew on Thursday following the Federal Reserve’s decision to keep key rates steady while the peso ended the day sideways against the greenback.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) rose by 0.36 percent, or 24.55 points, to 6,915.28 points.
All Shares followed with an increase of 0.37 percent, or 15.93 points, to 4,302.50 points.
Most of the sectoral indexes also gained during the day, including Industrial which rose by 1.39 percent; Property, 0.95 percent; Financials, 0.29 percent; Mining and Oil, 0.20 percent; and Services, 0.10 percent.
Only the Holding Firms index ended the day in the negative territory with a 0.03-percent change.
Volume totaled 1.58 billion shares amounting to PHP6.48 billion.
Gainers led losers at 105 to 79, while 58 shares were unchanged.
“Philippine stocks climbed after the Federal Reserve decided to leave the policy rates unchanged. Still, there is no indication on how quickly the Fed will taper its asset purchases,” said Luis Limlingan, Regina Capital Development Corporation head of sales.
The Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) maintained the rates at near-zero but did not give indications on its around USD120 billion monthly US treasuries purchases.
Meanwhile, the peso ended the day sideways against the US dollar at 50.34 from 50.27 a day ago.
It opened the day at 50.33 and traded between 50.45 and 50.27.
The average level for the day stood at 50.372.
Volume totaled USD1.08 billion, lower than the previous session’s USD1.24 billion. (PNA)
