Sensex, Nifty Rise as Rupee Rebounds Against Dollar

BSE Sensex and Nifty moved up today on higher global markets after the Federal Reserve gave a positive assessment of the US economy and committed to retaining accommodative monetary policy.

A pullback in the rupee also aided the sentiment. The rupee rose to 59.86 against the dollar vs its Wednesday's close of 60.39. However, the gains in the Indian stock markets were capped on concerns over the impact of rising oil prices on the domestic economy.

Gaurang Shah, assistant vice president at Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services, said he does not see a big downside for the markets. Foreign and domestic investors are buying on dips, he added.

Technical analyst Sarvendra Srivastava says 7,474 is a crucial support level for the Nifty.

Most of the Asian markets were higher today, after the S&P 500 on the Wall Street ended at a record high on Wednesday as the Fed hinted at a slightly faster pace of interest-rate increases starting next year but suggested rates in the long run would be lower than it had indicated previously.

The gains in the Indian markets were broad-based. Barring oil & gas stocks, all the sectoral indices on the BSE were higher. Strong buying was seen in IT stocks on optimism over the US economy after Federal Reserve's positive assessment. The BSE IT index was up nearly 1 per cent with Infosys, TCS and Wipro rising between 1 per cent and 1.5 per cent.

In the Indian markets, rail stocks were up after a report quoting sources said the commerce and industry ministry has started the exercise to relax foreign investment norms in the railways sector by permitting 100 per cent FDI in high-speed train systems and dedicated freight lines.

Titagarh Wagons, Kalindee Rail Nirman and Texmaco were up between 3.5 per cent and 4 per cent.

At 9:55 p.m., the Nifty was up 17 points at 7,575, slightly off its day's high of 7606, while Sensex rose 80 points to 25,327.

Broader markets outperformed the frontlines indices with the BSE midcap and smallcap indices rising nearly 1 per cent. (With Reuters Inputs)