Wall Street higher as tech, energy gain; Fed in focus

By Yashaswini Swamynathan

(Reuters) - Wall Street rose on Wednesday, helped by gains in technology and energy stocks, ahead of the Federal Reserve's decision later in the day.

The Fed is scheduled to release a statement at 2:00 p.m. ET, followed by Chair Janet Yellen's press conference. While the chances of a hike are marginal this time, investors will comb the central bank's statements for clues about a December hike.

U.S. stocks were also supported by the Bank of Japan's surprise decision to adopt a "yield curve control" under which it will buy long-term government bonds to keep 10-year bond yields at current levels around zero percent.

The BOJ also said it would not hesitate to ease monetary policy to support growth.

The dollar index was flat after touching a near two-week high on the BOJ policy announcement. The yen fell 0.94 percent against the dollar.

"I'm trying to get excited about another Fed day," said Chuck Self, chief investment officer at iSectors LLC in Appleton, Wisconsin. "The Fed is not going to do anything, but they may issue a 'hawkish hold' statement."

A hawkish hold by the Fed would mean maintaining rates at current levels with the outlook of a hike in the coming months. The overall consensus among economists is for a move in December, according to a Reuters poll.

Traders have priced in an 18 percent chance of a rate hike hours before the Fed statement. The odds rise to about 59 percent for December, according to the CME Group's FedWatch tool.

The central bank raised interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade last December but weak economic data and global uncertainty have prevented it from raising the rates further.

At 11:08 a.m. ET (1508 GMT), the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 58.55 points, or 0.32 percent, at 18,188.51.

The S&P 500 was up 8.06 points, or 0.38 percent, at 2,147.82.

The Nasdaq Composite was up 18.58 points, or 0.35 percent, at 5,259.94.

The S&P technology sector provided the biggest boost to the benchmark index, rising 0.54 percent to its highest level in more than one week.

Microsoft was the top influence on the S&P and the Nasdaq, rising 1.2 percent after announcing a $40 billion share buyback program.

Adobe Systems rose 6.3 percent to $106.77 after reporting better-than-expected quarterly revenue.

U.S. crude rose 2.29 percent after data showed a bigger-than-expected draw in inventories. The energy index surged 1.03 percent and was the top gainer among the 11 major S&P indexes. Chevron rose about 1 percent.

The nascent real estate was the only sector of the benchmark index that was trading lower.

FedEx rose 6.5 percent to $173.30 after the package delivery company's quarterly profit rose more than expected.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners on the NYSE by 2,136 to 720. On the Nasdaq, 1,790 issues rose and 822 fell.

The S&P 500 index showed six new 52-week highs and one new low, while the Nasdaq recorded 49 new highs and 12 new lows.

(Reporting by Yashaswini Swamynathan in Bengaluru; Editing by Don Sebastian)