Shares rise after the loud Fed’s interest rate decision – Finnish companies on the rise

Stock markets have opened to a solid rise across Europe after the US Federal Reserve’s (Fed) interest rate decision on Wednesday. The Fed lowered its key interest rates by as much as 0.5 percentage points.

The decline was large, but in line with market expectations.

The decision has been received with open arms in the stock market. The broad European Stoxx Europe 600 index was up about 0.9 percent at 10:30 a.m. Finnish time on Thursday. The Dax index of the Frankfurt stock exchange had risen by 0.8 percent and the CAC 40 index of the Paris stock exchange had lost more than 1.2 percent.

The Helsinki Stock Exchange also gained momentum from the decision. Half an hour after the start of trading, the stock exchange’s general index was about 0.5 percent higher.

Earlier on Thursday morning in the Asian stock markets, the Tokyo Stock Exchange’s Nikkei index and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng indices both rose by more than two percent.

In Helsinki, Metsä Board was the fastest growing company on the list of large companies. Its shares had risen by more than 4.3 percent during the morning. From the list of medium-sized companies, Harvia had risen by more than 5.7 percent.

Fedin the interest rate decision of the open market committee, which decides on monetary policy, was not unanimous. One of the members would have been satisfied with an interest rate cut of 0.25 percentage points.

The decision means that the key interest rate range will be changed from 5.25 to 5.50 percent to 4.75 to 5.00 percent.

The decision to lower interest rates means a turn in the Fed’s monetary policy. The last time the central bank cut its key interest rate was in March 2020. At that time, the worsening of the coronavirus pandemic caused serious disruptions to the global economy.

The Fed will next decide on its key interest rates in November. The market now expects the Fed to cut interest rates by 0.25 percentage points at that time.