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US Fed's monetary policy decision along with domestic monthly F&O expiry will drive India's key equity indices on Thursday.

On Wednesday, both the indices rallied higher.

Besides, broader markets too gained with majority of the sectors ending in green with banks and financials clearly leading the rally.

Notably, India's VIX fell down by 2.17 per cent from 23.08 to 22.58 levels.

Accordingly, the S&P BSE Sensex closed at 49,733.84, higher by 789.70 points, or 1.61 per cent, from its previous close of 48,944.14.

It had opened at the day's low of 49,066.64 and touched an intra-day high of 49,801.48 points.

The Nifty50 on the National Stock Exchange closed at 14,864.55, higher by 211.50 points, or 1.44 per cent, from its previous close.

The top gainers on the Sensex were Bajaj Finance, IndusInd Bank and Bajaj Finserv, while the major losers were Nestle India, Tata Steel and HCL Technologies.

"So far, the strong quarterly earnings season has been supportive to the market. While the market undertone is positive, the extension of lockdowns and the continuous rise in Covid cases could cap the upside," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head - Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

"On Thursday, the global markets would react to the US Fed's monetary policy outcome along with the President Joe Biden's detailed outline of his infrastructure spending plan. On the domestic side, monthly F&O expiry and results of few heavyweights would be keenly tracked," Khemka added.

According to Vinod Nair, Head of Research at Geojit Financial Services: "Superior Q4 results and vaccine optimism buoyed domestic markets to trade on a positive footing for the third consecutive day ahead of the Fed interest rate decision.

"Strong buying interest was seen in banking and auto stocks with enhanced business prospects which is likely to be maintained."