Stocks on Wall Street enjoyed a rally on Wednesday after the US Federal Reserve confirmed it would keep interest rates low for some time.
The Dow Jones Index was up 147 points, or 1%, at 14, 048. The Nasdaq Composite was up 38 points, or 1.2%, at 31 67.
In Europe: the FTSE 100 in London was up 0.88%, the DAX in Frankfurt was up 1.04% and the CAC-40 in Paris was up 1.92%.
The Australian 200 Index gained 33 points, to close at 5036 and the NZX 50 index closed up 37 points at 4276.
At 8.30am on Friday, the New Zealand dollar was trading at 82.50 US cents, 80.76 Australian cents, 54.51 pence, 75.06 yen and 0.6290 euro. The Trade Weighted Index was at 75.51.
The price of gold fell by 1% as the Wall Street rally prompted bullion traders to take profits.
Gold is widely considered a hedge against inflation because it tends to keep its value better than other assets during periods of high inflation.
Gold was trading at $US1603.20 per ounce and Brent crude oil was trading at $US113.42 per barrel.
