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(Alliance News) - Stocks and gold were seeing buyers early Thursday, after the US Federal Reserve all but confirmed an interest rate cut next month. Mexican gold miner Fresnillo led the FTSE 100 index of London large-cap stocks, up 4.7%, while Egyptian peer Centamin, up 4.9%, was among the top gainers in the mid-cap FTSE 250. Gold was quoted at USD1,383.30 an ounce early Thursday, up from USD1,344.50 late Wednesday.The FTSE 100 was up 15.21 points, or 0.2%, at 7,418.75 early Thursday. The FTSE 250 was up 0.5% at 19,342.56, while the AIM All-Share was up 0.4% at 936.16.In mainland Europe, the CAC 40 in Paris was up 0.6%, while the DAX 30 in Frankfurt was up 0.7%.In Asia on Wednesday, the Japanese Nikkei 225 index ended up 0.6%. In China, the Shanghai Composite gained 2.4%, while the Hang Seng index in Hong Kong was up 1.2% in late trade.In the US on Tuesday, Wall Street ended higher after the Fed decision, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average up 0.2%, the S&P 500 up 0.3% and the Nasdaq Composite up 0.4%.The pound is quoted at USD1.2724 early Thursday, up from USD1.2632 at the London equities close on Wednesday. The euro was trading at EUR1.1295, up from USD1.1217 late Wednesday.The Federal Open Market Committee left the key US interest rate unchanged at the range of 2.25% to 2.5%, even as it signalled a more dovish tone going ahead, citing "uncertainties" about the economic outlook. The Fed said it would "act as appropriate to sustain the expansion", indicating there could be more accommodation to help the economy. Inflation continued to run below the target, the central bank noted. The word "patient" no longer appeared in the statement from the central bank about its rates moves going ahead, following a two-day meeting. The Fed also shifted to say economic activity was expanding at a "moderate rate", as opposed to more robust previous language. Fed Chair Jerome Powell said there was not much appetite at the meeting for cutting rates now. He said that while trade concerns were a major driver of sentiment, he was also monitoring potential downside trends to global growth, and no one event would determine policy. "As expected, the FOMC kept the Fed Funds target range unchanged at 2.25% to 2.50%," Oxford Economics Financial Market Economist Kathy Bostjancic said. "However, Fed officials' dovish forward guidance and significantly lower Fed Funds dot plot estimates in 2019 lead us to now expect a 25-basis point rate cut in July, followed by another 25-basis point reduction in September."According to the closely watched CME FedWatch Tool, economists now expect the probability of a cut at the July meeting of the rate-setters is 100%. The commentators now forecast a 61.5% probability of a cut to between 2.00% and 2.25% and a 38.5% chance of a cut to 1.75% to 2.00%."In line with our expectations, Fed officials replaced the 'patient' statement with language saying that given 'uncertainties about [the] outlook have increased' they are 'closely monitoring' recent developments and will 'act as appropriate to sustain the expansion'," Bostjancic noted. "The Fed is poised to lower rates due to increased business uncertainty from rising trade tensions, slower domestic growth momentum, and a lingering inflation undershoot combined with slipping inflation expectations."Meanwhile, the Bank of Japan maintained its ultra-loose monetary policy as widely expected and kept its forward guidance unchanged on Thursday. The Policy Board of the BoJ voted 7-2 to maintain interest rate at -0.1% on current accounts that financial institutions maintain at the bank. The bank said it will purchase government bonds so that the yield of 10-year JGBs will remain at around zero percent.The Bank of Japan is showing no sign of shifting to a more dovish stance, despite the impending sales tax hike and the more dovish tone from the US Fed, Mark Williams, an economist at Capital Economics, said.Attention now turns to the Bank of England. The rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee is expected to cling to its hawkish bias on Thursday, albeit with a softened tone, even as rate hike expectations evaporate due to Brexit worries and global trade tensions.The BoE will announce its latest monetary policy decision, alongside the release of the MPC meeting minutes, at midday. There will be no press conference with BoE Governor Mark Carney following the decision.It is widely expected the nine-strong MPC will vote to maintain the UK Bank Rate at 0.75%.Also still to come in the economic calendar on Thursday, there are UK retail sales at 0930 BST, while in the US, initial and continuing jobless claims are due at 1330 BST. Steel maker Evraz was the biggest loser in the FTSE 100, down 5.2% after three directors and big shareholder Roman Abramovich together sold a 1.7% stake in a placing announced late Thursday.The Russian steelmaker said Non-Executive Chair Alexander Abramov, Chief Executive Officer Alexander Frolov, Non-Executive Director Eugene Shvidler and Chelsea football club owner Abramovich collectively sold 24.9 million shares at 635 pence each, equating to GBP158.1 million in total.The company was not a party to the share sale and will not receive any proceeds from the placing.Abiglaze, which is related to Chair Abramov, sold 8.3 million shares or 0.6% stake; Crosland Global - related to Chief Executive Frolov - sold 4.2 million shares, or 0.3% stake; Toshi Holdings, connected to Director Shvidler, sold 1.2 million shares, or 0.1%; and Greenleas International, which is related to businessman Abramovich, sold 11.3 million shares or 0.8% stake.Following the sale, Abiglaze, Crosland Global, Greenleas International and Toshi Holdings will continue to hold 19.4%, 9.7%, 28.8% and 2.8% stake in Evraz, respectively. The investors are subject to a lock-up of 60 days in respect of their remaining shareholding.In the FTSE 250, Dixons Carphone was by far the worst performer, down 18% after reporting a swing to an annual loss. The mobile phone and consumer electronics retailer reported it sank to a GBP259 million pretax loss for the financial year ended April from a GBP289 million profit the year prior. This was after it was hit by GBP547 million in one-off impairment costs and revenue feell 1.0% to GBP10.43 billion. Headline pretax profit - excluding one-off costs - narrowed to GBP298 million from GBP382 million the year prior.