The Australian share market has steadied, after a mixed day on Wall Street following the announcement that US interest rates would remain near zero.

At 12:45pm AEST, the benchmark ASX 200 had lost some of its earlier gains, up 0.4 per cent at 7,409.

The broader All Ordinaries also rose 0.4 per cent to 7,683. 

Banking stocks dragged on the markets with the major four banks slipping between 0.2 and 0.7 per cent.  

Miners fuelled the gains up 1.7 per cent.

Rio Tinto was up 2.6 per cent, BHP rose 1.6 per cent aftering hitting record highs. .

Fortescue Metals Group was up 1.6 per cent following strong quarterly numbers.

It comes after Fortescue reported record iron ore shipments of 49.3 million tonnes in its quarterly results, compared with 47.3 million tonnes a year ago. 

The high demand for iron ore in countries like China resulted in a record average revenue of $US169 a dry tonne for the quarter. 

The world's fourth largest iron ore miner had $US6.9 billion of cash in the bank and net cash of $US2.7 billion at June 30, 2021, with a net debt of $US1.0 billion at March 31, 2021.

Gold stocks jumped more than 1 per cent on higher bullion prices.

Regis Resources and Northern Star Resources gained 5.6 per cent and 1 per cent respectively. 

Tech stocks climbed 2 per cent, with Iress up 16.2 per cent after the fintech company rejected a takeover offer from private equity firm EQT. 

Mixed trading on Wall Street 

On Wall Street overnight the tech-heavy Nasdaq was the only US index to end trading higher, up 0.7 per cent to 14,762.

The benchmark S&P 500 finished almost flat at 4,400, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 0.4 per cent to 34,930.

Tech stocks have boomed during COVID-19 because people are spend more time at home and on devices, which has boosted advertising revenue. 

Google's parent company Alphabet was up 3.1 per cent after posting a 69 per cent jump in quarterly earnings results, Tesla rose 0.3 per cent, and Facebook increased 1.4 per cent.

Facebook's total revenue, which is mostly thanks to advertising, rose to $US29.09 billion, up from $US18.69 billion a year ago. 

However, the social media giant expects its revenue to "decelerate significantly," sending its shares down about 5 per cent in extended trading.

Boeing posted its first quarterly profit in almost two years as revived domestic travel fuelled 737 MAX deliveries, with the plane manufacturer's shares up 5 per cent. 

Meanwhile, Pfizer's stocks went up 3 per cent after the vaccine maker raised its full-year sales forecast 29 per cent to $US33.5 billion.

Fed to keep interest rates low

The US Federal Reserve has held its benchmark interest rate in a target range between zero and a quarter of a per cent.

The Fed said the US economy remained on track beside COVID-19 concerns, adding the US job market still had some ground to recover before it would be time to pull back from the economic support. 

"It looks like probably the most positive thing for the market was that they are nowhere near increasing interest rates," said investment advisory firm president Alan Lancz from Alan B Lancz and Associates.

On European markets, the German DAX rose 0.3 per cent, while Britain's FTSE was up 0.3 per cent and the STOXX 600 index finished 0.6 per cent. 

Iron ore was up to $US202.68 a tonne.

US oil fell 0.1 per cent to $US72.33 a barrel while Brent Crude oil was down 0.1 per cent to $US74.65 a barrel.

Gold was selling for around $US1,809 an ounce. 

Bitcoin's six-week high 

Bitcoin broke above $US40,000 on Wednesday, up 1.7 per cent, while rival cryptocurrency ethereum rose 1 per cent to $US2,328.

Bitcoin is within a whisker of rising through its 100-day moving average.