Global shares rally again on Fed plan

US stocks rose for a fourth straight session on Friday to close out the week at nearly five-year highs after the Federal Reserve took bold action to spur the economy, a move that could keep equities buoyed in the coming months.

The Dow and the S&P 500 both closed at their highest levels since December 2007, while the Nasdaq ended at the highest since November 2000. The small-cap Russell 2000 index closed at the highest since April 2011.

The Dow Jones industrial average ended up 53.51 points, or 0.40 percent, to 13,593.37. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index closed up 5.78 points, or 0.40 percent, to 1,465.77. The Nasdaq Composite Index gained 28.12 points, or 0.89 percent, to 3,183.95.

European shares set a new 14-month high and stayed on course to extend gains in the near term as growth-linked stocks were boosted by the launch of a third round of stimulus by the US central bank, fuelling appetite for riskier assets.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index ended 1.3 percent higher at 1,120.15 points, a level not seen since July 2011, in volume 153 percent of the 90-day average. It has gained 18 percent since a low in June and is up nearly 12 percent this year.

Japan's Nikkei average climbed 1.8 percent to its highest level in three weeks, gaining a foothold above 9,000 after bold plans for stimulus from the US Federal Reserve boosted risk appetite and lifted battered cyclical stocks.

The Nikkei advanced 164.24 points to 9,159.39 in heavy volume, helping to hoist the benchmark well clear of its 200-day moving average at 9,002.87. The broader Topix index rose 1.7 percent to 756.88 in the heaviest trade since March 13, with 2.49 billion shares exchanging hands.