Wall Street saw a rally fizzle just before the market closed as investors gave a muted reaction to a US Federal Reserve decision.

Shares briefly fell back from early gains after the release of the US Federal Reserve's latest statement was released, revealing interest rates would be left unchanged at near zero.

They then recovered before easing once more. Very early in the session, encouraging signs from the services sector in the US and positive employment data boosted the market.

The services industry grew in October in the second straight month of expansion.

And last month US companies cut jobs at the slowest pace in more than a year.

The healthcare sector rose on hopes the Obama administration's healthcare reforms may be delayed after Republicans scored some key election victories.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed up 30 points to 9,802.

The S and P 500 Index added six points to 1,051.

The Nasdaq finished down two points to 2,055.

A rebound by mining and banking stocks helped the British market to a rally of 1.4 per cent and base metal prices rose on the back of a weaker dollar.

Retailers also did well - Next and Marks and Spencer posted better than expected results.

British Airways gained more than 6.5 per cent after an analyst upgrade to buy from neutral ahead of the airline's second-quarter results, which are due on Friday.

By the close, London's FTSE 100 Index had gained 70 points to 5,108.

Australian shares are set to open higher. On the Sydney Futures Exchange, the Share Price Index 200 closed up 23 points to 4,544.

The Australian dollar gained about 0.75 cents from yesterday's close to 91.09 US cents.

On the cross-rates it was at 0.6121 euros; 82.6 Japanese yen; 55 pence sterling; and it was worth $1.25 in New Zealand.

Spot gold has reached new record highs overnight - it was currently worth $US1,092.50 an ounce and West Texas Crude edged up to $US80.29 a barrel.