UK shares rose on Thursday, tracking gains in global equities after the Federal Reserve initiated a 50-basis-point rate cut, while investors looked ahead to a Bank of England (BoE) policy decision later in the day.

In the end, the Fed decided to go big. The Federal Reserve lowered its key interest rate by a hefty half percentage point Wednesday, moving ahead with its first rate cut in four years and cheering markets that expected an emphatic move amid a softening jobs picture.

We concluded that this was the right thing for the economy and the people we serve,” the Federal Reserve chair, Jerome Powell, said, referring to the central bank’s decision to cut interest rates by half a point.