Europe's main stock markets rose Wednesday, after bumper gains earlier in Asia, as investors welcomed the US Federal Reserve's upbeat economic outlook, analysts said.

Asian markets were also spurred higher after the Bank of Japan held its key interest rate and raised the amount of cash available for banks.

In late morning European trade, London's benchmark FTSE 100 index gained 0.58 percent to 5,652.99 points, in Paris the CAC 40 added 0.62 percent to 3,963.50 points and Frankfurt's DAX 30 won 0.76 percent to 6,016.43 points.

The Stoxx 50 index of top eurozone shares increased by 0.91 percent to 2,932.36 points.

Wall Street ended higher on Tuesday as investors also cheered the Fed's pledge to keep interest rates "exceptionally low" and "for an extended period" after a crucial monetary policy meeting.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.41 percent, rallying for the sixth straight session, after the Fed held its fed funds rate at the zero to 0.25 percent range, and offered a slight upgrade to its view of the economy.

It said "economic activity has continued to strengthen and that the labor market is stabilizing". That was a more upbeat description than the phrasing used after its last policy meeting in January.

"The FTSE's early gains today were fuelled by yesterday's positive forecast from the US Federal Reserve, which came after UK markets had closed," said analyst Anthony Grech at financial spread-betting firm IG Index.

"The Fed pledged to keep rates in the current 0-0.25 percent range for an extended period of time, while simultaneously providing a generally upbeat assessment of the US economy.

"The mining sector was the UK market's engine room... as hopes for global growth were buoyed by the Fed's report."

In earlier Asia deals, Tokyo jumped 1.17 percent and Hong Kong rallied 1.72 percent as investors also welcomed the Bank of Japan's widely expected announcement of more monetary easing to boost the economy, analysts said.

The BoJ decided to extend emergency steps launched last year to boost the economy by doubling short-term loans available to banks to 20 trillion yen (220 billion dollars).

And the bank left its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 0.1 percent as it fights stubborn deflation and weak demand in the world's number two economy.