Banks drive European stocks rally post-BOJ action, Fed in focus

The stocks on the European bourses opened on a positive note and charged higher this Wednesday, with the banking and financial sector stocks emerging the top gainer, after BOJ introduced new policy measures at its monetary policy decision announced earlier on the day.

The European markets tracked their Asian counterparts higher, after the Nikkei 225 index staged a solid performance and closed +2% higher, boosted by the BOJ’s decision to tweak its monetary stimulus programme, while leaving interest rates unchanged at -0.1%.

Further, a rally across the commodities’ space also lifted the sentiment around the region’s indices, with resource and energy stocks also benefiting from higher oil and gold prices.

Meanwhile, Germany's DAX 30 index rises +1.14% to 10,513, while the UK's FTSE 100 index trades +0.41% higher at 6,858. Among the other indices, the French CAC 40 index rockets +1.30% to 4,445, while the pan-European Euro Stoxx 50 index rallies +1.22% to regain 3k mark.