Indian shares rise on bank, IT boost after less hawkish Fed minutes
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India's main indexes rose on Thursday, driven by a rally in shares of public sector banks and IT companies, with sentiment also getting a boost from signals the U.S. Federal Reserve may slow the pace of interest rate hikes.
The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.49% to a near one-week high of 61,809.36, while the NSE Nifty 50 index advanced by similar magnitude to 18,363.80.
Minutes from the Fed's November rate-setting meeting showed on Wednesday, a "substantial majority" of policymakers agreed it would "likely soon be appropriate" to slow the pace of rate hikes.
Nifty public sector bank index was the top sectoral gainer adding 1%, and looked on course to extend their rally for eighth straight day. The index is up 60% so far this year on improved asset quality of state-run banks and potential credit growth.
Nifty Information Technology index rose 0.8%, mirroring near 1% gains in Nasdaq Composite overnight following the Fed minutes.
Indian markets will continue to remain range-bound till the Nifty crosses 18,500 levels, said Shrikant Chouhan, Executive Vice President of equity research at Kotak Institutional Equities, adding that the market participants are more worried about valuations.
The MidCap index rose 0.3%, underperforming larger peers, while the SmallCap measure almost mirrored the benchmarks.
Among individual stocks, Tata Consumer Products rose most in over two months and was the top gainer on Nifty 50 index on report of 70 billion Indian rupees ($857 mln) acquisition of Bisleri International.
Shares of Keystone Realtors rose over 5% after debuting at a premium to issue price.
