Currencies

• EUR/USD The dollar fell to a 16-month low against the euro as the Federal Reserve's pledge to keep interest rates near zero to stimulate growth urged investors to buy higher-yielding assets.
  • The dollar dropped to $1.4869 per euro as of 1:36 p.m. in Tokyo from $1.4788 in New York yesterday, after sliding to $1.4882.


• USD/JPY and the JPY crosses went their separate ways in Asia. With the Fed earlier upping its inflation outlook, some had looked for a more hawkish tone.
  • The greenback fell 0.6 percent to 81.70 yen.
  • The yen was little changed at 81.56 to the dollar.


• GBP/USD Following the FOMC meeting overnight and the realization that rates will remain stable given current soft economic conditions, the pair opened on its lows at 1.6626.
  • The U.S. currency declined 0.6 percent to $1.6727 per pound, after reaching $1.6747.

Commodities

• Gold advanced to a record after the Federal Reserve pledged to keep interest rates near zero to bolster the recovery, weakening the dollar and boosting demand for precious metals as a store of value.
  • The central bank kept its target rate for overnight lending between banks at zero to 0.25 percent, while ending $600 billion of bond purchases on schedule in June.
  • Immediate-delivery gold gained as much as 0.2 percent to $1,530.22 an ounce, and traded at $1,528.32 at 10:06 a.m. in Singapore.
  • Bullion for June delivery in New York rose as much as 0.9 percent to $1,530.80.

• Oil climbed for a second day in New York on speculation fuel demand will increase after the Federal Reserve renewed its pledge to stimulate growth and as U.S. gasoline stockpiles fell to the lowest since August 2009.
  • Crude oil for June delivery gained as much as 94 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $113.70 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. The contract was at $113.17 at 11:50 a.m. Singapore time.

Equities

• U.S.stocks rose as the Federal Reserve renewed its pledge to stimulate growth with low rates and said a pickup in inflation is likely temporary.
  • The S&P 500 added 0.6 percent to 1,355.66 at 4 p.m. in New York.
  • The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 95.59 points, or 0.8 percent, to 12,690.96.


• European stocks advanced for a fifth day, led by technology and auto-industry shares, as companies from Ericsson AB to Volkswagen AG and Porsche SE reported better-than-estimated earnings.
  • Ericsson surged 11 percent, Volkswagen, Europe's largest carmaker, climbed 4.8 percent and Porsche rallied 5.9 percent.
  • U.K.'s FTSE 100 was little changed to 6,068.16.
  • France's CAC 40 gained 0.6 percent to 4,067.72 and Germany's DAX climbed 0.7 percent to 7,404.95.


• Asian stocks rose after the Federal Reserve renewed its pledge to stimulate U.S. economic growth with low interest rates and as companies from Advantest Corp. and Komatsu Ltd. posted higher earnings.
  • Advantest, the world's biggest maker of memory-chip testers, surged 5.2 percent. Komatsu, the world's second-largest maker of construction equipment, advanced 2.3 percent.
  • Japan's Nikkei 225 Stock Average rose 1.4 percent to 9,831.14, the highest since the March 11 earthquake and tsunami.
  • Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index added 0.5 percent, and China's Shanghai Composite Index lost 0.1 percent.

Sources: Bloomberg, FT