Fed rate decision cheers equities mart

Investors continued to cheer on the decision of Federal Reserve to keep the policy rate, boosting the Philippine Stock Exchange index (PSEi) for the second consecutive day.

The benchmark PSEi climbed by 0.79 percent, or 48.08 points, to close at 6,142.79 while the wider All-Shares index rose by 0.69 percent, or 22.88 points, to settle at 3,316.95.

“Philippine shares bounced back again as investors expectations aligned with that of the Fed to maintain the status quo for now, while other are left speculating how long interest rates will be kept elevated,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.

All sectors were in the green, with holding firms and property indices gaining the most with an uptick of 0.95 percent and 0.88 percent, respectively.

About 1.09 billion shares amounting to P4.36 billion were traded. Advancers led decliners, 94-74, while 52 issues were unchanged.

The most actively traded shares were SM Prime Holdings, rising by 0.83 percent to P30.20 each.

This was followed by Century Pacific Food Inc., down 4.03 percent to P29.75; Bloomberry Resorts, down 3.64 percent to P10.60; Aboitiz Power, up 2.50 percent to P30.75; BDO Unibank Inc., flat at P131; and Manila Electric Co., up 1.98 percent to P371.

Other active names were Globe Telecom, up 0.17 percent to P1,778; Bank of the Philippine Islands, up 1.40 percent to P108.50; Monde Nissin Corp., up 4.09 percent to P9.17; and International Container Terminal Services Inc., up 0.49 percent to P203.80.

—Tyrone Jasper C. Piad INQ

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