European stocks open higher ahead of Fed rate decision

By Tuba Sahin

ANKARA (AA) - European stocks opened Wednesday with gains ahead of a US Federal Reserve rate decision.

Fed's two-day key policy meeting will be concluded Wednesday where investors await to see if the bank will signal to take its foot off the throttle on future rate hikes.

The Fed is expected to hike the federal funds rate by 75 basis points to the target range of 3.75%-4% after its benchmark interest rate has been raised by a total of 300 points since March to tame the record inflation that is still hovering around its highest level in more than 40 years.

The STOXX Europe 600 benchmark index rose 0.31% to 415.90 points, and Germany's DAX 40 index gained 0.25% to 13,372 points.

The UK's FTSE 100 index went up 0.18% to 7,199 points, while France's CAC 40 index rose 0.49% to 6,359 points.

Spain's IBEX 35 index stood at 8,016 points, up 0.22%, and Italy's MIB 30 index climbed 0.33% to 22,872 points.

Euro/dollar parity was 0.99 as investors assessed macroeconomic data and its impact on the European Central Bank’s policy move.