(Updates to U.S. morning trade)

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U.S. stocks rally on tech strength

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European stocks little changed

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Fed's economic projections; dot plot eyed

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Turkish assets drop after arrest of Erdogan rival

By Stephen Culp

NEW YORK, March 19 (Reuters) - U.S. stocks advanced and

bitcoin rebounded on Wednesday as markets awaited the rate

decision from the U.S. Federal Reserve, which could provide

insight regarding the state of the economy and the central

bank's next monetary policy moves.

Megacap tech-related momentum stocks rebounded in a risk-on

revival that put the Nasdaq out front, strengthened the dollar

and put gold on the defensive.

Turkey detained President Tayyip Erdogan's main political

rival in what the main opposition party called "a coup against

our next president," battering Turkish stocks and sending the

lira plunging as much as 14.5% against the dollar

before it pared those losses.

The Federal Reserve is expected to conclude its two-day

monetary policy meeting with a decision later on Wednesday to

let its key interest rate stand in the 4.25% to 4.50% range.

But the accompanying statement, Chair Jerome Powell's press

conference and the central bank's Summary of Economic

Projections - including the dot plot - will be parsed for clues

regarding the timing of the Fed's next rate move.

(The Fed has) dialed rate cut expectations back down to two

this year," said Matthew Keator, managing partner in the Keator

Group, a wealth management firm in Lenox, Massachusetts. "With

the uncertainty surrounding the new administration and some of

their policies I just think it behoves them to kind of take a

wait and see approach at this point."

"I would be surprised if there was anything that deviated

from that," Keator added.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy was set to speak

with U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday and said the

United States should be in charge of monitoring any ceasefire in

the Ukraine war.

"We live in such a global society there's always going to be

something happening out there in the world," Keator said. "But

long-term investors, I believe, have the ability to kind of look

through some of that day-to-day noise."

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 246.54 points,

or 0.60%, to 41,829.45, the S&P 500 rose 36.30 points, or

0.65%, to 5,650.99 and the Nasdaq Composite rose 159.22

points, or 0.90%, to 17,661.27.

European stocks struggled for gains, edging back from the

previous session's robust gains ahead of the Fed decision.

Europe's broad FTSEurofirst 300 index fell 0.38

points, or 0.02%.

MSCI's gauge of stocks across the globe rose

3.29 points, or 0.39%, to 842.82.

The pan-European STOXX 600 index was flat, while

Emerging market stocks fell 2.12 points, or 0.19%, to

1,143.05. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside

Japan closed lower by 0.18%, to 593.97, while

Japan's Nikkei fell 93.54 points, or 0.25%, to

37,751.88.

The dollar rallied ahead of the central bank's decision, but

backed down from the day's highs as markets digested the shock

of Turkey's arrest of Istanbul mayor Ekrem Imamoglu, Erdogan's

main political rival.

The dollar index, which measures the greenback

against a basket of currencies including the yen and the euro,

rose 0.34% to 103.65, with the euro down 0.43% at

$1.0896.

Against the Japanese yen, the dollar strengthened

0.42% to 149.89.

The Turkish lira was last trading down 3.55% at

37.987 per dollar.

Cryptocurrencies benefited from risk-on investor sentiment.

Bitcoin gained 2.65% to $84,190.58. Ethereum

rose 6.52% to $2,029.63.

U.S. Treasury yields gained on Wednesday and two-year yields

hit a three-week high ahead of the U.S. central bank's rate

decision.

The yield on benchmark U.S. 10-year notes rose

1.7 basis points to 4.298%, from 4.281% late on Tuesday.

The 30-year bond yield rose 0.7 basis points to

4.5861% from 4.579% late on Tuesday.

The 2-year note yield, which typically moves in

step with interest rate expectations for the Federal Reserve,

rose 3.6 basis points to 4.078%, from 4.042% late on Tuesday.

Crude prices seesawed. Russia and Ukraine accused each other

on Wednesday of violating a new agreement for a 30-day halt to

attacks on energy targets hours after it was agreed by Trump and

Russian President Vladimir Putin.

U.S. crude rose 0.33% to $67.12 a barrel and Brent

rose to $70.81 per barrel, up 0.35% on the day.

Gold prices held steady about the $3,000 per ounce mark,

continuing to benefit from safe-haven demand.

Spot gold fell 0.1% to $3,030.87 an ounce. U.S. gold

futures fell 0.13% to $3,031.10 an ounce.