Stock rally as Fed defers rate hike

MANILA, Philippines - The local stock market joined global markets in a rally yesterday after minutes of the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting showed the US central bank is in no rush to raise interest rates.

Markets’ relieved  the US Fed won’t decide to increase interest rates until some time next year, prompting investors to  accumulate  stocks, analysts said.

The benchmark Philippine Stock Exchange index  climbed 32.12 points, or 0.45 percent, to close at 7,138.91, while the  broader All Shares index gained 16.35 points, or 0.40 percent,  to finish at 4,079.75.

All other indices except for the services sector closed in positive territory. The services barometer declined  16.55 points or 0.96 percent.

Value turnover reached P6.51 billion. Advancers outnumbered decliners 108 to 76, while 35 stocks were left unchanged.

Yesterday’s best performers include Alliance Global and Ayala Land, while telecom stocks, including PLDT and Globe were down.  

World stocks rose yesterday, putting them on course for their biggest weekly rise in four years.  

Brent crude oil was on track for its biggest weekly rise since March 2009, while zinc soared nine percent – its biggest daily gain for seven years .

In early trading, the MSCI world equity index   was up 0.6 percent. That was the eighth rise in a row, and put the index up 4.3 percent on the week, its best performance since late 2011.

The FTSEuroFirst index of the leading 300 European shares was up 0.8 percent on the day and up five percent on the week.