Australian Shares Rally After Federal Reserve Stays Course on Rate Cuts

The local share market has enjoyed its best day in seven months after the US Federal Reserve stuck with its predictions for rate cuts this year – even as a hot domestic jobs report suggested Australia won’t cut rates anytime soon. The benchmark S&P/ASX200 index on March 21 finished up 86.2 points or 1.12 per cent, to a 13-day high of 7,782.0, while the broader All Ordinaries rose 90.1 points, or 1.13 per cent, to 8,044.6. The gains were the ASX200’s best since a 1.47 per cent rise on Feb. 2 and came after the Federal Reserve overnight kept rates on hold, as expected, while issuing a “dot plot” projection that continued to forecast three rate cuts by year’s end despite a recent uptick in US inflation....