Stocks also gained worldwide on rekindled investor risk appetite which had taken a hit from concerns about the swollen debt of Greece and other euro zone countries.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 29.78 points, or 0.29 percent, at 10,298.59. The Standard & Poor's 500 Index was up 2.79 points, or 0.25 percent, at 1,097.66. The Nasdaq Composite Index was up 4.07 points, or 0.18 percent, at 2,218.26.

MSCI world equity index rose 0.77 percent, while the pan-European FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares hit a two-week closing high of 1.2 percent.

In Asia, Japan's Nikkei average surged 2.7 percent on Wednesday, chalking up its biggest daily rise in over two months, as investors snapped up Mitsubishi Corp. and

other resource-related stocks after a jump in commodities prices.

In currencies, the US dollar was up against major currencies, with the ICE Futures Exchanges dollar index up 0.71 percent at 80.265. The euro was down 1.01 percent at $1.3629 and against the Japanese yen, the dollar was up 0.78 percent at 90.80.

Meanwhile, oil rose slightly on Wednesday. US crude for March delivery rose 36 cents to $77.37 a barrel by 1:08 p.m. EST (1808 GMT).

Oil prices reached a session high of $77.82 a barrel and a low of $76.53 after closing 3.9 percent higher on Tuesday, the biggest percentage gain since it rose 5.8 percent on Sept. 30.

London Brent crude for April rose 52 cents to $76.20 a barrel.

The NYMEX front-month volume in the early afternoon was approaching 190,000 contracts, relatively light for the day.

Crude inventories in the United States were expected to have risen by 1.9 million barrels in the week ended Feb. 12, as imports that had been delayed by weather along the Gulf Coast came ashore, according to a preliminary Reuters poll of analysts on Tuesday.

Distillate stocks, which include heating oil and diesel, fell by 1.6 million barrels, with demand for heating fuel seen higher after two heavy snowstorms hit the US East Coast. Gasoline supplies rose by 1.6 million barrels, the poll showed.