Indian equity benchmarks retreated from losses to rise and hold on to steady gains through midday on Thursday, after the Federal Reserve raised policy rates by 25 basis points and Chairman Jerome Powell played down the prospect for interest-rate cuts in the future on Wednesday.
While non-banking financial companies and metals gained, fast-moving consumer goods and real estate stocks were under pressure. Nifty was trading above the 18,100 mark, while Sensex was comfortable, placing above the 61,400 level.
Asian markets and U.S. futures edged higher as investors brushed aside the Federal Reserve's commentary against interest-rate cuts and looked ahead to an eventual pivot to policy easing.
The Asia-wide gauge of equities was on course for its best day in about three weeks, helped by an advance in Hong Kong shares. Stocks in mainland China fell as they resumed trading after a three-day break, while Australian and South Korean shares trimmed early declines.
Contracts for the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq 100 were moderately higher after a drop on Wednesday, when the turmoil in U.S. regional banks added to market volatility.
Even as banking turmoil fears led to mounting pressure from lawmakers to pause, the Federal Open Market Committee delivered a quarter-point hike, taking the federal fund rates in the range of 5% to 5.25%, the highest since 2007, on Wednesday. Powell later cleared expectations of no rate cuts anytime soon.
As of 11:58 p.m., the S&P BSE Sensex was up 227 points or 0.37% at 61,420.56, while the NSE Nifty 50 was higher by 71 points or 0.38% at 18,160.30.
Bajaj Finance Ltd., HDFC Bank Ltd., HDFC Ltd., Reliance Industries Ltd., and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd. were positively contributing to the change.
ICICI Bank Ltd., ITC Ltd., Power Grid Corporation of India Ltd., ONGC Ltd., and Tata Consumer Products Ltd. were weighing the Nifty down.
The broader market indices were trading higher and outperforming their larger peers; S&P BSE MidCap was up by 0.69%, whereas S&P BSE SmallCap was higher by 0.83%.
Seventeen out of the 20 sectors compiled by BSE advanced, while S&P BSE Fast Moving Consumer Goods, S&P BSE Utilities, and S&P BSE Realty declined in trade.
The market breadth was skewed in favour of buyers. About 2,225 stocks rose, 1,099 declined, and 145 remained unchanged on the BSE.
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