Stocks rose for a fourth day, after central banks including the US Federal Reserve indicated monetary policies will remain accommodative.
The Philippine Stock Exchange index, the 30-company benchmark, climbed 86 points, or 1.1 percent, to close at 7,762.35 Thursday. This pushed up total gains to 11.7 percent this year.
The broader all-share index also advanced 32 points, or 0.7 percent, to settle at 4,603.05, on a value turnover of P8.5 billion. Advancers outnumbered losers, 109 to 66, while 45 issues were unchanged.
Eighteen of the 20 most active stocks ended in the green, led by Globe Telecom Inc. which jumped 4.5 percent to P2,100 and Metro Pacific Investments Corp. which climbed 3.5 percent to P7.10. PLDT Inc. gained 2.3 percent to P1,756.
Meanwhile, Asian equity markets built on the previous day’s Japan-fueled strong performance. With Japanese markets shut for a holiday, an MSCI index of shares elsewhere in Asia climbed for a sixth day.
US equities advanced in the last session and the dollar weakened as the Fed left rates unchanged and scaled back its projections for hikes in 2017 and beyond.
The won jumped the most since June as gains in commodity prices supported the Australian dollar. New Zealand’s currency weakened and its bonds surged after its central bank said further policy easing is expected. Crude oil gained following a slide in US stockpiles.
Loose monetary policies in the US, Europe and Asia have helped drive gains in stocks, bonds and commodities this year and the latest signals from central bankers suggest the era of cheap money has further to run.
While the Fed still sees a rate hike this year, its projection for increases in 2017 was trimmed to two from three. Japan’s central bank on Wednesday pledged to overshoot its 2 percent inflation goal and took steps to limit the negative side effects of its record stimulus.
The period “of having very low developed market rates for a very long time, and investors needing yields, that is still there,” Peter Kinsella, head of emerging market economic and foreign-exchange research at Commerzbank AG, told Bloomberg TV in Hong Kong.
Speeches are due Thursday from the heads of the European Central Bank and the Bank of England, while at least seven central banks have policy reviews. Indonesia is forecast to lower interest rates and about a third of economists surveyed by Bloomberg are predicting a cut in Norway, while monetary authorities in South Africa and Turkey are seen leaving borrowing costs unchanged. France has business confidence gauges coming and a measure of consumer sentiment in the euro area is also scheduled. With AFP, Bloomberg