Stocks extend gains ahead of US Fed meeting

MANILA, Philippines (Xinhua) - The Philippine stock market led the rally among the stock markets in Asia today as investors start to place their bets on the conclusion of the meeting of the US Federal Reserves.

The bellwether Philippine Stock Exchange index jumped by 2.83 percent or 179.63 points to 6,518.77. The broader all-share index rose by 2.26 percent or 88.99 points to 4,031.42.

Trading volume however remained thin with only 901 million shares worth P6.87 billion ($159.02 million) changing hands. Advancers led decliners 107 to 50, while 46 were unchanged.

Tracking the rally in US stocks Monday night, the local index surged back to the 6,500 level.

"Share prices extended its run to a third day, urged by a similar move in US equities overnight as investors began to place bets on the Federal Reserve's meeting which begins today. Asian markets however have given up part of the day's gains as the balancing of such bets played into trades," said Justino Calaycay, an analyst at Accord Capital Securities.

Calaycay said local investors are being conscious of the movement of foreign funds and if these funds will make a sudden shift in reaction to perceptions that the US Fed may decide to step on the stimulus brakes.

With the domestic front being temporarily pushed back, Calaycay said he expects trading to remain soft until the release of the US Federal Reserve's decision on Thursday.

"Trades will remain sensitive to what it perceives as 'threats' to the flow of liquidity which in turn is highly dependent on the US Federal Reserve's decision at the conclusion of its two-day meeting," Calaycay said.

Stocks in the 30-company index were mostly up. These include Alliance Global Group, Inc., SM Prime Holdings, Inc., and SM Investments Corp.