NEW YORK (Reuters) - BMO Capital Markets on Thursday said it was raising its S&P 500 target for 2024 to 6,100 from 5,600.

The benchmark index was last at 5,720, up 1.8% on the day, following Wednesday's Federal Reserve decision to kick off its monetary easing cycle with half-a-percentage point reduction.

"Much like our last target increase in May, we continue to be surprised by the strength of market gains and decided yet again that something more than an incremental adjustment was warranted," according to a note from Brian Belski, BMO's chief investment strategist.

"This is particularly true when YTD gains are put into a similar historical performance pattern context, which suggest a stronger-than-normal 4Q is likely in store for the market and especially since the Fed has shifted to easing mode," he added.

BMO made no changes to its S&P 500 EPS target.