NEW YORK: The Nasdaq led the rally among Wall Street’s main indexes as major rate-sensitive technology and growth stocks advanced after the Federal Reserve hinted it was close to pausing interest rate hikes amid turbulence in the banking sector.

As US Treasury yields slipped on growing hopes of an end to the Fed’s tightening cycle, Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp and Amazon.com Inc gained around 2% each on Thursday.

Nvidia Corp jumped 3.3% after Needham raised its price target on the chipmaker on likely benefit from near-term data centre strength.

Communication services and technology shares led the gains among S&P 500 sector indexes. The US central bank on Wednesday raised rates by an expected 25 basis points, but its policy statement no longer said “ongoing increases” would likely be appropriate, indicating a clear shift in its stance.

The Fed’s softer tone relieved markets that have been roiled by liquidity-crisis concerns in the banking sector since the failure of two US regional lenders earlier this month.

“Markets are hoping that you have one more interest rate hike to go, probably,” said Robert Pavlik, senior portfolio manager at Dakota Wealth in Fairfield, Connecticut.

At 12:07 p.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 398.52 points, or 1.24%, at 32,428.63, the S&P 500 was up 59.20 points, or 1.50%, at 3,996.17, and the Nasdaq Composite was up 251.34 points, or 2.15%, at 11,921.30.