Telecommunications stocks, which also carry a higher-than-average dividend, also rose more than the rest of the market.
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The BOJ’s announcement initially sent the dollar up more than 1 percent to 102.79 yen, though the gains unraveled as investors realized that the overall market impact was far from obvious.
All 11 major S&P sectors closed in positive territory, led by a 1.9-percent gain for the real estate sector.
Trading followed a pattern that has become familiar in the last several months. For the year, the benchmark S&P 500 is up 6.5 percent. Although it voted against raising rates in its September meeting, which concluded earlier this week, Fed Chairwoman Janet Yellen said that one increase would be “appropriate” this year.
“It’s another example of the issues facing investors right now, particularly pension funds and retirement funds, that they are all chasing yield in the same places”, said Ian Winer, co-head of equities trading at Wedbush Securities.
The looming US election could further confuse market direction, the note read.
The Federal Reserve kept its key interest rate unchanged Wednesday but signaled it is likely to raise it later this year.
“The bottom line is that with USA growth running around 2 per cent or a bit less and inflationary pressures remaining below target, global risks remaining, the strength in the U.S. dollar over the last two years and the recent, regulatory driven rise in United States interbank lending rates doing part of the Fed’s job for it, the Fed remains rightly cautious in removing monetary stimulus”, he said.
“The Committee judges that the case for an increase in the federal funds rate has strengthened but decided, for the time being, to wait for further evidence of continued progress toward its objectives”, said Fed in a statement released Wednesday after its two-day policy meeting.
What’s more likely, the USA and global economic news will continue to disappoint – and this could be enough to support a rising gold price.
Asian shares look set to rise for a sixth straight session on Thursday after the Federal Reserve left US rates unchanged and plotted a lower trajectory for future hikes, slugging the dollar and boosting commodity prices.
Banco BPI rose 3.6% after Spain’s Caixabank launched a bid for the Portuguese lender and slightly raised its offer price.
The October contract for natural gas fell seven cents to US$2.99 per mmBtu. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.6 percent to 5,404.50.
Importantly, they also buy and hold gold for a variety of reasons – reasons that can not be easily quantified in a small rise or fall in interest rates – reasons such as portfolio diversification, financial insurance, inflation protection, hedging stock-market risk, etc.
Commodities were mostly higher, with the November crude oil contract up 98 cents at US$46.32 per barrel, December gold contracts increasing by US$13.30 at US$1,344.70 per ounce and the December contract for copper rising four cents to $2.19 a pound.
Freeport-McMoRan, the mining giant, jumped 44 cents, or 4.2 percent, to $10.98.
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Gold edged down on Friday, after touching a two-week high in the previous session, on a stronger dollar, but was on track for its biggest weekly gain in almost two months. The euro slipped to $1.1204 from $1.1209.
