NEW YORK, New York - The minutes of the Federal Reserve'sFederal Reserve's monetary meeting on Wednesday caused a late buying surge on Wall Street, ironing out a volatile session that saw the major indices move in and out of positive territory.
The minutes showed that the Fed was prepared to hike rates more than expected, a revelation that one would think would dampen buyer enthusiasm and encourage dollar bulls - but the opposite happened.
The Nasdaq Composite was up 170.29 points or 1.51 percent or 170.29 points in the late surge, and buyers mainly targeted technology stocks in the late surge, pushing the Nasdaq Composite up 170.29 points or 1.51 percent to 11,434. The Dow Jones industrials advanced by 191.66 points or 0.60 percent to 32,120. The Standard and Poor's 500 added 37.25 points or 0.95 percent to 3,978. The U.S. dollar was under pressure. The euro was close to New York at 1.0678 and was up from earlier lows. The Japanese yen came off earlier highs but was still well ahead of recent lows, trading at 127.27. The Swiss franc was unchanged at 0.9619.
The Canadian dollar barely moved from 1.2812 to 1.2812. The Australian dollar was boosted to 0.7089. The FTSE 100 in London climbed 0.51 percent on overseas equity markets. The German Dax increased by 0.63 percent. The Paris-based CAC 40 added 0.73 percent. The Nikkei 225 fell 70.34 points or 0.26 percent to 26,677 in Tokyo. In New Zealand, the S&P NZX 50 fell by 73.66 points or 0.65 percent to 11,173. In Hong Kong, the Hang Seng added 59.17 points or 0.29 percent to 20,171. 21 points.
The Australian All Ordinaries gained 18.50 points or 0.05 percent to 7,391.