New York stocks climbed moderately Wednesday on the Federal Reserve's decision to maintain an ultra-easy credit policy.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which fell 17.53 points Tuesday, gained 30.23 points to end at 9,802.14.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index, which declined 8.12 points the previous day, inched down 1.80 points to 2,055.52.

The Dow surged more than 150 points in an initial reaction to the Fed's afternoon decision to keep its target for overnight interest rates to zero to 0.25 percent.

But stocks soon faced profit taking with the Dow erasing most of its earlier gain toward the close.

The Fed's mixed signal about its economic assessment during a meeting of the policy-setting Federal Open Market Committee heavily weighed on investors, said market analysts.

In the morning, the ADP National Employment Report showed 203,000 private-sector jobs were lost in October, down from the 227,000 lost in September.

The reading marked the seventh straight month of declining job losses.

Investors shifted to the buying side after the job data were released, as the declining job losses raised hopes for upbeat results in an October employment report the Labor Department is set to release Friday, the analysts said.