London — The dollar held on to big gains on Wednesday before minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s latest meeting, while European shares followed Asian stocks higher. Relative calm in the standoff between the US and North Korea also lifted investors’ appetite for riskier assets. Metals markets were buoyant, with the price of zinc, used to galvanise steel, hitting its highest in a decade on Chinese infrastructure demand. European shares rose half a percent in early trade. The Fed releases the minutes of its July policy meeting at 6pm GMT, after European markets have closed, and will be pored through for clues to how the debate over the policy outlook is developing. The US central bank kept interest rates unchanged last month and said it expected to start winding down "relatively soon" its massive holdings of bonds, bought in an effort to boost the economy. The pan-European STOXX 600 index rose 0.7%, led by basic resources companies and energy companies as metals and oil prices rose. Ge...
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