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Equity benchmark indices climbed in early trade on Thursday, amid steady foreign fund inflows and buying in index major Reliance Industries.
In early trade, the 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 77.64 points to 61,270.94 points. The broader NSE Nifty rose 27.7 points to 18,117.55.
From Sensex firms, Larsen & Toubro, Bajaj Finance, Titan, Tata Steel, Bajaj Finserv, State Bank of India, Tata Consultancy Services, NTPC and Reliance Industries were the biggest gainers.
Power Grid, HCL Technologies, Tech Mahindra, ITC, Maruti and ICICI Bank were the laggards.
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net buyers on Wednesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,338 crore, according to exchange data.
In Asian markets, Shanghai and Hong Kong were trading in the green, while Seoul was trading with a decline.
US markets closed in the negative zone on Wednesday.
“From the market’s point of view, more important than the expected dovish rate hike of 25 basis points by the Fed is the Fed chief’s comment that “the case for avoiding a recession is more likely than for a recession to occur.” Likely to remain flexible with the market. Limited volatility,” said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.
Mr. Vijayakumar said that strengthening of the rupee and continued buying by FIIs will strengthen the market.
The US Federal Reserve on Wednesday strengthened its fight against high inflation by raising its key interest rate by a quarter percentage point to a 16-year high.
But the Fed also signaled it may now pause its streak of 10 rate hikes, which has made borrowing steadily more expensive for consumers and businesses.
“The Fed hike looks like it is the last rate hike, but a rate cut can happen later only if there is a significant decline in economic activity or inflation calms. In the short term as the RBI holds off on raising rates and There is weakness in crude oil prices,” said Hemang Jani, Head – Equity Strategy, Broking & Distribution, MOFSL.
On Wednesday, the BSE benchmark had closed 161.41 points or 0.26% down at 61,193.30. The Nifty closed 57.80 points or 0.32% down at 18,089.85.
Meanwhile, global oil benchmark Brent crude rose 0.37% to $72.60 per barrel.