Dutch stock market down 0.1% to 403.46 points

Benchmark Dutch stock market index AEX, composed of 25 of the most actively traded securities on NYSE Euronext Amsterdam, decreased by 0.1 percent to 403.46 points on Wednesday.
The trading day was dominated by the conclusion of a two-day Federal Open Market Committee meeting of the United States Federal Reserve. There are increasing bets that the Fed will drop the "considerable time" phrase, which would mean the first step towards a rate hike. As both the economy and labor market of the United States are picking up, the Fed is expected to be one of the first western central banks to raise interest rates.
In Amsterdam, Philips and SBM Offshore stood out. Philips announced to expand in medical devices with a 1.2 billion U.S. dollars Volcano deal. However, investors seem unenthusiastic about the purchase -- Philips decreased the most (-2.5 percent) on the AEX on Wednesday.
SBM Offshore announced that their Chief Governance and Compliance Officer (CGCO) Sietze Hepkema has decided to retire, and while the fund was decreasing during the day, it ended the day with an increase (+1.1 percent).
Royal Dutch Shell (+3.2 percent) and Fugro (+1.2 percent) are the two biggest winners among the 7 rising stocks of Wednesday, stocks of Philips Koninklijke (-2.5 percent) and OCI (-1.9 percent) dropped the most.