Markets open higher as Fed backs stimulus

Markets opened on a positive note this Thursday after US Federal Reserve backed stimulus for the near-term as policy makers continued to debate whether to pause bond-buying by the end of this year.

At 9:20AM, the 30-share Sensex was up 292 points at 19,585 and the 50-share Nifty rose 92 points at 5,909 levels.

Central bank’s minutes of the June 18-19 gathering showed that about half of the 19 participants in the Federal Open Market Committee wanted to halt $85 billion in monthly bond purchases by year end.

At the same time, the minutes showed many Fed officials wanted to see more signs employment is improving before backing a trim to bond purchases known as quantitative easing.

In Asia, Nikkei dropped 0.04% to 14,410, Singapore Straits Times rose 1.2% to 3,228, China’s Shanghai Composite index was up 1.8% at 2,045 while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng gained 2.2% to 21,371 today.

Domestically, investors are eyeing for the results of Infosys, the bellwether stock of the IT index, this Friday that will kick-start the first quarter earnings season.

Back home all the key sectoral indices gained with banks, realty, metal, PSU, oil & gas sectors gained topping the charts on the BSE.

The key gainers included counters such Larsen & Toubro gained 3.6%, Tata Steel added 2%, ONGC rose 2.3%, Hindalco & Sterlite Industries was up 3.4% and 1.6% respectively on the BSE.

The laggards included names like HUL declined 0.03%  on the BSE.

The broader markets traded higher with mid-caps and small-caps gaining 0.5-0.6 per cent on the BSE.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 456 stocks traded so far, 390 stocks advanced while 54 declined on the BSE.