LONDON, BENGALURU: The Nasdaq hit a record intraday high on Thursday amid broad gains in US stocks, a day after the Federal Reserve stood pat on interest rates.

At 9:36am. ET (1336 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 132.52 points, or 0.72 per cent, at 18,426.22. The S&P 500 was up 15.01 points, or 0.69 per cent, at 2,178.13. The Nasdaq Composite was up 32.98 points, or 0.62 per cent, at 5,328.22, after rising as much as 0.65 per cent to a record of 5329.92. The S&P energy index surged 1.33 per cent and was the top gainer among the 11 major sectors of the benchmark index.

The S&P 500 index showed 26 new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq recorded 80 new highs and three new lows.

While the risks to economic outlook were roughly “balanced”, the Fed maintained rates as inflation continued to run below its 2 per cent target and members saw room for improvement in the labour market.

The central bank slowed the pace of future hikes and cut its longer run interest rate forecast to 2.9 per cent from 3 per cent, but sent a strong signal for a move by the end of this year.

“The Fed probably appeared less hawkish than what the markets had expected,” said Ryan Larson, head of equity trading at RBC Global Asset Management in Chicago. “I think the market continues to be focused on the Fed pushing a hike for later as a good thing rather than bad.” The consensus among economists is for a hike in December as the Fed’s November meeting comes right around the US Presidential elections.

The probability of a November hike stands at a modest 12.4 per cent, and rises to 58.4 per cent for December, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch tool.

The dollar index dropped 0.6 per cent on Thursday, and was on track to mark the second straight day of losses after the central bank’s decision.

Shares of Apple rose 0.9 per cent to $114.56 and was the top influence on the S&P and the Nasdaq after Nomura and RBC raised their price targets.

Adding some support to the Fed’s plans for at least one hike this year was a report that showed the number of Americans applying for unemployment last week fell to a two-month low.

European markets followed Asia’s lead, with Britain’s FTSE 100 climbing 1.3 per cent and Germany’s DAX and France’s CAC 40 both jumping almost 2 per cent ahead of a third day of gains in New York.

Oil and commodities firms gained the most as oil and metal prices rose, while a weakened dollar made the climbing easy for the euro, pound and Swiss franc.

Westpac analyst Richard Franulovich noted that back in June the median ‘dot plot’ — the rate moves expected by the Fed’s members — showed five hikes to end-2017. Now it is down to just three. “We do not feel that the dollar has the wherewithal to make a more concerted run higher in the next few weeks,” he added.