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London - Global stocks and commodity prices rose on Wednesday, boosted by speculation the US Federal Reserve will maintain a pledge on low rates later in the day and by a report China's central bank will provide the country's big lenders with fresh loans.
This anticipated stimulus from the world's two largest economies eclipsed the growing nervousness and uncertainty surrounding Thursday's Scottish independence referendum, which most polls suggest is still too close to confidently predict.
With the exception of Britain's leading FTSE 100 index , equities in Europe and Asia tracked Tuesday's gains on Wall Street, which saw the Dow hit a fresh record high.
Those gains came after the Wall Street Journal's Fed watcher Jon Hilsenrath said the central bank would keep the words "considerable time" in its policy statement, though it might qualify them.
The phrase has become a touchstone in markets for when the Fed might start raising interest rates and dropping it would be taken as a hawkish step.
Dealers said commodities were also boosted by reports that the People's Bank of China would provide $81.5bn in short-term funding to the country's top five banks. Copper chalked up its biggest gain in almost a month.
"There is no overwhelming need to come across all hawkish yet and, whilst a return to some kind of normality is expected at some stage, the Fed is unlikely to take any chances which could negatively impact economic growth in the short term," said Gary Jenkins, chief credit strategist at LNG Capital.
"For this particular recovery, I think that the Fed would rather act a little bit too late than a little bit too early," he said.
Wall Street futures pointed to a flat open across the three major US stock indices .
The FTSEuroFirst 300 index of leading European shares was up 0.5% at 1 386 points, while Germany's DAX was up a third of one percent and France's CAC 40 was up two thirds of one percent.
Britain's FTSE 100 underperformed, flat on the day ahead of Thursday's independence vote in Scotland that could end the 307-year old United Kingdom.
"If it's a 'No' vote, expect the FTSE to go up by around 50 points, but if it's a 'Yes' vote, expect the FTSE to fall 200 points," said Richard Griffiths, associate director at Berkeley Futures.
Earlier in Asia, MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose two thirds of one percent, but Japan's Nikkei slipped 0.1%.
The feelgood factor also spread through emerging markets. Russian stocks slid, however, dragged down by a near 30% crash in shares in the holding company of conglomerate Sistema after its chairperson was placed under house arrest accused of money-laundering.
In currencies, implied volatility in overnight sterling options jumped, as investors rushed to hedge against sharp price swings around Thursday's Scottish independence vote.
Overnight sterling/dollar implied volatility doubled to 18.60%, according to Reuters data. The overnight options will expire on September 18, the day Scotland votes on independence.
Opinion polls broadly show that the vote is too close to call. Three surveys late on Tuesday - from pollsters ICM, Opinium and Survation - showed support for independence at 48% compared to 52% backing union.
The pound steadied on the narrow margin in favour of "No", ticking up 0.2% to $1.6306, and the euro was down by a similar amount at 79.44 pence.
The dollar index and the euro were unchanged on the day at 84.06 and $1.2960, respectively.
In commodities, copper futures rose 0.4 percent aided by the report on Chinese banks. Brent crude oil futures rose 23 cents to $99.28 per barrel, but U.S. WTI futures were down 30 cents at $94.58 a barrel.
Bond investors were reluctant to move too far ahead of the Fed. Yields on two-year Treasury debt inched up a basis point to 0.55 percent, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year Treasury note dipped a basis point to 2.57 percent.
