Stocks finished with slight gains on Wednesday ahead of the start of the meeting by the US Federal Reserve which is expected to raise interest rates this week.

The Philippine Stock Exchange index gained 47.43 points to end at 6,928.34. The market was boosted by Ayala Corp. which went rose 4.3 percent to P719.50, San Miguel Corp. up four percent to P99.85, the Lucio Tan Group, up 3.08 percent to P13.40 and SM, which increased by 1.9 percent to P650.

The peso closed at P49.73 against the US dollar from P49.775 from the previous day.

Shakey’s Pizza Asia Ventures will list 1,531,321,053 shares at the Philippine Stock Exchange on Thursday.. DMS