The Canadian Press

North American stock markets headed for a positive start to the trading day Wednesday in the wake of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s decision to keep interest rates unchanged “for an extended period.”

In New York, the Dow Jones industrial futures rose 21 points to 10,645, the Nasdaq futures climbed 3.5 points to 1,932 while the S&P 500 futures were ahead 3.1 points to 1,157.9.

The Canadian dollar rose 0.17 of a cent to US98.79 cents.

The Toronto market will likely also find lift from higher commodity prices. Oil prices gained headway after a report showed U.S. crude inventories grew less than expected last week.

The April crude contract on the New York Mercantile Exchange climbed 61 cents to US$82.31 a barrel after the American Petroleum Institute reported that crude inventories rose by 400,000 barrels last week, far less than the increase of 1.9 million barrels that had been expected.

The Energy Department’s Energy Information Administration is scheduled to announce its supply report later Wednesday. Meanwhile, leaders of the 12-nation Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries have signalled they don’t expect the group to change production quotas when it meets Wednesday in Vienna.

Other commodity prices advanced as the April gold contract on the Nymex was ahead $6.80 to US$1,129.30 an ounce while May copper rose five cents to US$3.41 a pound.

Stock markets advanced Tuesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve kept a key lending rate at a historically low level, saying the economy is showing signs of improvement.

The Fed also painted a more optimistic assessment of the U.S. economy — it noted that the labour market was “stabilizing” and that business spending was rising “significantly.”

At the moment, the consensus in the markets is that the Fed will raise its benchmark funds rate from the current range of zero to 0.25 per cent around the third quarter of this year.

Japan led overseas markets higher after its central bank kept a key interest rate at 0.1 per cent and expanded money available through its short-term lending program.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 stock average rose 1.2 per cent and Hong Kong’s market jumped 1.7 per cent.

There was also relief over news that the Standard & Poor’s credit ratings agency gave its cautious backing to the Greek government’s attempts to get a grip on its borrowing by taking the country off so-called credit watch. That means the agency is not thinking about downgrading the country’s BBB-plus credit rating at the moment, to the relief of the Greek government as it tries to plug its deficit by tapping the international bond markets for cash.

London’s FTSE 100 index gained 0.44 per cent, Frankfurt’s DAX was up 0.76 per cent and the Paris CAC 40 rose 0.45 per cent.

In earnings news, Petrobank Energy and Resources Ltd. (TSX:PBG) said Tuesday that despite stellar fourth quarter earnings, profits for 2009 dropped 40 per cent from year-earlier levels mainly due to lower oil and natural gas prices. Net earnings for the year dropped to $145 million. Fourth quarter net earnings doubled to $57.1 million compared to year-earlier profits of $28.1 million.

Biopharmaceutical company Cangene Corp. (TSX:CNJ) says its profit shrunk to $3.8 million in its most recent quarter, down from $5.6 million a year ago. Revenue increased by 20 per cent due to $41.5 million.

German auto group BMW AG says the economic crisis has probably reached its lowest point and that its car market could see growth in a single-digit percentage range in 2010. The company, which also builds the Mini and Rolls Royce brand cars, said setbacks in the world economy could continue to arise and that it was still difficult to make a more precise or reliable forecast.