Wall Street up significantly on interest rate decision

Equities markets in Asia and the Pacific were mostly up on the session Wednesday. The major exception was in the Pacific region, in Australia, where The SP/ASX dropped 14.7 points to close at 5,861.9 and the Sydney Ordinaries fell 10.2 points to 5,846.3 on a volume of 1.74 billion shares. In Australia, miners trended upward, but the oil sector was lower. Banks were mixed on the session.

Elsewhere, the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong added 0.82 percent to 5,846.3, while the Straits Times index in Singapore gained 1.24 percent to close at 3,155.69 and in India the Sensex was 1.89 percent higher to 12,945.88. The Tokyo markets were closed for a holiday.

In Europe, the FTSE Eurofirst 300 added 0.32 percent to 1,492.46, for the third day of gains in a row. Markets were mixed, however, with the Dax up 0.18 percent to 6,712.06 in Frankfurt but the CAC 40 down 0.02 percent to 5,502.18 in Paris. The construction sector was higher on bids rumors.

London markets saw gains, with the FTSE 100 0.59 percent higher to 6,256.8 and the FTSE 250 up 1.34 percent to 11,612.7. Banks were mixed on the session but gains were generally driven by the positive reception accorded the release of the minutes of the most recent meeting of the Monetary Policy Committee of the Bank of England.

In late afternoon trade in New York, equities markets were up after the Federal Reserve decided to keep interest rates on hold for the time being. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was 1.36 percent higher to 12,406.19, the Nasdaq had added 1.71 percent to 2,449.43 and the S&P 500 was up 1.69 percent to 1,434.79. There were gains among software makers and chip manufacturers, but the computer sector saw declines.

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