1 / 101. Asia: MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.25 percent while Japan's Nikkei gained 0.3 percent.
2 / 102. US: The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 216.84 points, or 0.84 percent, to 25,962.51, the S&P 500 gained 30.65 points, or 1.09 percent, to 2,854.88 and the Nasdaq Composite added 109.99 points, or 1.42 percent, to 7,838.96. (Image: Reuters)
3 / 103. Markets At Close On Wednesday: Indian financial and money markets were closed on Thursday on account of Holi. Trading will resume on Friday. Indian shares ended flat on Wednesday in absence of major cues. The S&P BSE Sensex ended at 38,386, up 23 points, while the broader NSE Nifty50 settled at 11,521, down 11 points. (Image: Reuters)
4 / 104. Crude Oil: Brent crude oil futures were at $67.82 per barrel at 0122 GMT, down 4 cents from their last close but within a dollar of the $68.69 per barrel 2019-high marked the day before. US WTI futures were at $60 per barrel, virtually unchanged from their last settlement and not far off their 2019 peak of $60.39 touched on Thursday. (Image: Reuters)
5 / 105. Rupee: The rupee closed at 68.82, up by 15 paise against the dollar on Wednesday. Indian financial and money markets are closed on Thursday on account of Holi. Trading will resume on Friday. (Image: Stock Image)
6 / 106. Dollar: The dollar also jumped back, with its index against a basket of six major currencies rising to 96.316 from Wednesday's 1-1/2-month low of 95.735. The dollar stood at 110.77 yen, having hit a five-week low of 110.30 on Thursday. (Image: Reuters)
7 / 107. FIIs & DIIs: Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth Rs 1,772 crore on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth Rs 1,323 crore on March 20. (Image: Getty Image)
8 / 108. US Federal Reserve Outcome: On Wednesday US Fed brought its three-year drive to tighten monetary policy to an abrupt end, abandoning projections for any interest rate hikes this year amid signs of an economic slowdown, and saying it would halt the steady decline of its balance sheet in September. The measures, announced following the end of a two-day policy meeting, mean the Fed's gradual and sometimes fitful efforts to return monetary policy to a more normal footing will stop well short of what was foreseen in late 2015 when the central bank first moved rates from the near-zero level adopted in response to the 2007-2009 financial crisis and recession. Having downgraded their US growth, unemployment and inflation forecasts, policymakers said the Fed's benchmark overnight interest rate, or fed funds rate, was likely to remain at the current level of between 2.25 percent and 2.50 percent at least through this year, a wholesale shift of their outlook.
9 / 109. European Union leaders have given Prime Minister Theresa May two weeks' reprieve, until April 12, before Britain could lurch out of the EU if she fails to persuade lawmakers to back the withdrawal treaty she concluded with Brussels. But after seven hours of summit brainstorming on Thursday, her 27 peers kept a host of options open, ramping up pressure on parliament to support May, giving Britain an outside chance of staying in for much longer - but also preparing to deflect blame for the chaos of any no-deal Brexit. (Image: AP)
10 / 1010. US-China Trade Talks: Senior US officials will visit Beijing for a new round of trade war talks on March 28-29, followed by a trip to the United States by China's top negotiator in April, the Chinese commerce ministry said on Thursday. The back-to-back trips come as Washington and Beijing battle over the final shape of a trade deal, with American officials demanding profound changes to Chinese industrial policy. (Image: Reuters)
