Market set to rise in early trade on Fed's decision to hold interest rates steady

Indian equity markets are set to rise in early trade tracking firmness in Asian markets and on US Fed's decision to hold interest rates steady. Higher US interest rates will reduce the attraction of riskier emerging-markets assets like India. Trading of CNX Nifty futures on the Singapore stock exchange indicates that the Nifty could gain 33 points at the opening bell.

In overseas markets, Asian markets were trading higher today, 18 September 2015. US stocks closed lower yesterday, 17 September 2015, after the Federal Reserve cited concerns about global economic growth in its decision to hold off on raising interest rates. At the end of the two-day monetary policy meeting yesterday, 17 September 2015, the US central bank held rates steady amid concerns about the global economic growth, financial market volatility and sluggish inflation at home, but it left open the possibility of a modest policy tightening later this year.

Back home, foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) sold shares worth a net Rs 337.27 crore on Wednesday, 16 September 2015, as per provisional data released by the stock exchanges. Domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought shares worth a net Rs 423.81 crore on Wednesday, 16 September 2015, as per the provisional data.

Positive lead from global markets aided decent gains for key equity benchmark indices on Wednesday, 16 September 2015. The Sensex rose 258.04 points or 1% to settle at 25,963.97, its highest closing level since 31 August 2015.

Among corporate news, Infosys announced after market hours on Wednesday, 16 September 2015 that Qantas Credit Union, a top Australian Credit Union, has chosen Infosys Finacle to improve its customer's digital experience, as part of their business transformation strategy. Infosys Fiancle is a part of EdgeVerve Systems, a product subsidiary of Infosys.

HCL Technologies announced at the fag end of the trading session on Wednesday, 16 September 2015, that it is collaborating with IBM to jointly develop Internet of Things (IoT) solutions to help customers on their IoT journey. The two companies will initially focus on specific verticals including industrial & manufacturing and smart facilities to co-develop innovative solutions such as remote monitoring, smart inventory management, smart building and facilities management. The two companies will also set up an incubation centre at Noida, India to develop these solutions for the chosen industries.

TCS announced after market hours on Wednesday, 16 September 2015, that its Digital Software & Solutions (DS&S) group has launched a new TCS 'Customer Insights & Intelligence' (CI&I) software solution for retail banks.

Tata Steel before market hours today, 18 September 2015 said that the company based on the review of its portfolio, is proposing to sell equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each of Tata Motors to institutional investors over the stock exchange for a value not exceeding Rs 1250 crore. The price will be discovered through a book building process. Tata Steel also proposes to sell equity shares of face value of Rs 2 each of Tata Motors to Tata Sons around the market price through an off-market transaction for a total value not exceeding Rs 1250 crore.

On the macro front, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has granted in-principle approval to 10 applicants to set up small finance banks under the "Guidelines for Licensing of Small Finance Banks in the private sector" (Guidelines) issued on 27 November 2014. The in-principle approval granted will be valid for 18 months to enable the applicants to comply with the requirements under the Guidelines and fulfill other conditions as may be stipulated by the RBI. On being satisfied that the applicants have complied with the requisite conditions laid down by it as part of in-principle approval, the RBI would consider granting them a licence for commencement of banking business under Section 22(1) of the Banking Regulation Act, 1949. Going forward, RBI intends to use the learning from this licensing round to appropriately revise the Guidelines and move to giving licences more regularly, that is, virtually "on tap".

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