While you were sleeping: UPDATED Apple rally pushes tech stocks higher

The US dollar rose along with Wall Street where Apple shares rallied on its better than expected sales of its latest iPhone model.

US Federal Reserve policymakers wrapped up a two-day meeting. Its policy statement left interest rates unchanged and offered little sign of when it might next raise rates.

The latest US economic data on factory activity and jobs were better than expected.

The ADP National Employment Report showed US private employers added a higher than expected 246,000 jobs in January, up from 151,000 in the previous month.

Separately, an Institute for Supply Management report showed its national factory activity index rose to a reading of 56.0 in December, a two-year high.

"The economy is off to the races with the wind at its back," New York-based MUFG Union Bank chief economist Chris Rupkey told Reuters.

"The Fed will lift rates three times in 2017 for sure, and maybe they might need to add a rate hike or start the year earlier with a policy firming in March."

Wall Street steadies after two-day decline
Wall Street rose though the broadest benchmark was unchanged. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which lost 230 points on Monday and Tuesday, was up 26.85 points, or 0.1%, to 19,890.94. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.5% to 5642.65 and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose less than a point to 2279.55.

"We're in a stable market with a lot of cross-currents. Fourth-quarter earnings seem to be okay," Chuck Self, chief investment officer at iSectors in Appleton, Wisconsin, told Reuters. "However, political uncertainty is making it hard for investors to have conviction in the market."

Apple shares soared 6.1% on higher strong demand for the iPhone 7, which helped boost revenue to a record $US78.4 billion and snap three consecutive quarters of sales declines.

"We were surprised by the strength of iPhone 7 Plus where we were actually short of supply throughout the quarter," chief financial officer Luca Maestri told Bloomberg.

"We've been able to come into supply-demand balance in January."

Technology shares were among the biggest gainers in the S&P 500, rising 0.7%, while utility stocks declined 1.7% after the Fed’s policy statement.

Meanwhile, United Technologies and Exxon Mobil shares posted the largest percentage declines in the Dow, down 1.4% and 1.3% respectively.

In Europe, the Stoxx 600 Index finished the day with a 0.6% gain from the previous close, bolstered by earnings from Volvo and Siemens.

The UK's FTSE 100 Index added 0.1%, France's CAC 40 Index climbed 1% and Germany's DAX Index increased 1.1%.

(BusinessDesk)