US Futures Track Gains, Global Stocks Rally As Markets Shrug Off Paris Attacks

Global markets rose Thursday as jitters from the attacks in Paris dissipated. U.S. futures rose while European stock markets reached a three-month high helped by strong gains by mining companies and French food voucher maker Sodexo SA. Asian markets also closed sharply higher after encouraging comments from the U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday.

During pre-market trading in the U.S., the S&P 500 stock futures and Nasdaq were both up by about 0.3 percent while the Dow Jones Futures Index was up 0.41 percent. U.S. markets had rallied on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve said it would hike interest rates in December but further rate hikes would depend on the economy doing well.

“We expect they will hike in December but then proceed slowly after that and that has soothed markets," Alvin Tax, an FX strategist at Societe Generale, told Reuters.

Across Europe, shares were sharply higher with Germany leading the way. The German DAX was up 1.69 percent while the FTSE 100 rose 1.32 percent and France CAC 40 was up 1.07 percent. Eurozone's STOXX 600 index rose 1 percent.

In Asia, Bank of Japan said in a policy meeting Thursday that it would maintain its current rate of buying assets -- a move that investors had expected.

Japan's benchmark Nikkei 225 index closed 1.07 percent up, while India's BSE Sensex was up 1.41 percent. Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up 1.41 percent while Shanghai Composite Index ended up 1.36 percent. The Nasdaq-style Chinext Index was the largest gainer, up 4.12 percent at close. South Korea's Kospi was also up 1.31 percent.