Thursday: Fed Boosts Asia

Japanese stocks spiked after the U.S. Federal Reserve elected to keep interest rates steady and softened language about further tightening, which also spurred a rally in U.S. shares.

The Nikkei 225 Stock Index climbed 1.5% to 17,419.20 and the Topix index added 1.4 percent. Sony(SNE Quote) drove the gains with a 1.5% jump following a government report that showed Japan's trade surplus widened 7.7 percent in February.

Elsewhere, the Shanghai Composite Index surged 0.45%, getting back into the black from the February selloff, and the Hang Seng Index closed up 0.89%. South Korea and Thailand traded moderately higher on the day.

Other Asian markets were up as well , with Singapore's Straits Times Index rising 2.02% and Taiwan's Taiex advancing 0.86%.