Stocks advance on positive US Fed comments

LOCAL stocks advanced Thursday, tracking the US and Asian benchmarks on favorable comments from the US Federal Reserve on interest rate cut.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped 47.27 points, or 0.69 percent, to close at 6,904.04, while the broader all-shares index rose 9.65 points, or 0.27 percent, to finish at 3,581.75.

“Philippine stocks surged well above the 6,900 level as Fed reaffirmed its plan for three interest rate cuts this year,” Regina Capital Development Corp. head of sales Luis Limlingan said.

Analysts said investors also welcomed the comment from National Economic and Development Authority Secretary Arsenio Balisacan that March inflation rate would not be higher than the 3.4 percent registered in February.

All sectoral indices ended in the green led by mining and oil (1.36 percent), services (+1.16 percent) and industrial (+0.72 percent).

Meanwhile, Asian markets rallied Thursday after Wall Street’s recordbreaking day as traders welcomed news that the Federal Reserve still saw three interest rate cuts this year even after recent data pointed to a bounce in inflation.

Decision-makers remained confident that prices will eventually be brought to heel after pushing borrowing costs to two-decade highs without doing too much harm to the US economy.

After a much-anticipated policy meeting, officials held rates for the fifth time in a row and released dot plot projections that showed they saw 75 basis points of cuts before year’s end, unchanged from December’s outlook. Observers suggested June would likely see the first move.

They also ramped up their forecasts for economic growth.

Last year saw inflation come down dramatically from the multidecade highs seen in 2022, heading towards the bank’s two-percent goal, but it nudged back up in January and February, fueling worries of a downward revision to the Fed’s rate estimates.