Asian markets ended higher today after the Federal Reserve flagged a long-awaited end to its monetary stimulus next year but delivered an otherwise upbeat economic outlook, which lifted investor spirits. So Japan's Nikkei-225 index jumped 2.1 percent; China's Shanghai Composite index rose 0.8 percent and South Korea's Kospi index gained 0.6 percent; Hong Kong's Hang Seng index moved up 0.2 percent and Singapore's Straits Times index added 0.7 percent.

In Europe, London's FTSE-100 had climbed 1 percent and France's CAC-40 had advanced 1.2 percent and Germany's DAX had added 1.6 percent, in intra-day trade.

Meanwhile, the Bank of England today became the world's first major central bank to raise borrowing costs since the corona-virus pandemic hammered the global economy last year, as it said inflation was set to hit 6 percent in April, three times its target level.

The Bank of England raised Bank Rate to 0.25 percent, from 0.1 percent. Also, the central bank cut its growth forecasts for December and the first quarter of 2022 because of the spread of Omicron.