US stocks post modest weekly advance

US stocks crawled slightly higher this week, while bond prices advanced, as investors parsed the Federal Reserve decision.

The S&P 500 posted a weekly rise of 0.2 per cent, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.1 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.7 per cent.

Wall Street’s attention was dominated by Wednesday’s decision by Fed policymakers to increase interest rates and project just two additional rate increases in 2017. Some investors expected a more hawkish tone from policymakers given the upbeat data released since the start of this year.

US government debt rallied on the dovish surprise, with Treasury yields falling. The 10-year was off by 7.6 basis points to 2.499 per cent, while the two-year fell 3.7bps to 1.317 per cent.

The US dollar index, a measure of the buck against six world currencies, shed 0.93 per cent. In commodities, US crude oil was little changed on the week at $48.72 a barrel.