The main Chilean index began its session with a positive performance following Wednesday’s holiday.

Wall Street and the Santiago Stock Exchange opened higher on Thursday, following the as-expected decision by the Federal Reserve to keep the US benchmark interest rate unchanged, while comments from Fed Chairman Jerome Powell had a less “hawkish” tone than expected.

In Chile, the main index of the Santiago Stock Exchange, the S&P IPSA, rose by 0.43% to 6,539.78 points in the early minutes of the session. The leading gains on the index were recorded by Cenchoshopp (2.27%) and SQM-B (2.17%).

Cencosud Shopping, the real estate and shopping center arm of the Paulmann family-linked company – now under the Cenco Malls brand – reported a year-on-year revenue growth of 8.4% in the first quarter, reaching $82.016 billion, before the holiday.

In Chile, the market also digested the March Imacec data, with a year-on-year expansion of 0.8%, which was at the lower end of market expectations.

Meanwhile, the major US indices opened with significant gains. On Wall Street, the Nasdaq Composite rose by 0.83%, the S&P 500 advanced by 0.44%, and the Dow Jones grew by 0.28%.

The American market was buoyed by the Fed’s decision and the signals provided by Jerome Powell. Questioned several times during the press conference, the head of the US central bank reiterated that the current level of the interest rate is “sufficiently restrictive” to bring inflation to the 2% target.

Additionally, Powell dismissed the possibility of a rate hike as the next change in the benchmark interest rate for the time being.