Sensex rises after Fed minutes

REUTERS - Indian shares rose on Thursday following two consecutive sessions of falls after minutes of the U.S. Federal Reserve's July meeting indicated the chances of a September rate hike were slim.

Fed policymakers agreed that more economic data is needed before raising interest rates, although some see a need to tighten policy soon, the minutes showed.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose as much as 0.76 percent in its biggest rise since Aug. 8.

"The delay in U.S. rate hike is positive for emerging markets, especially our market," said Shrikant Chouhan, senior vice president of equity technical research at Kotak Securities.

The Sensex was 0.50 percent higher at 28,146.65 as of 0722 GMT, while the Nifty was up 0.6 percent at 6,675.80.

Recent decliners recovered with Tata Consultancy Services gaining as much as 1.26 percent after shedding about 4 percent in the previous two sessions.

Shares of Power Grid Corp of India rose as much as 3.24 percent after analysts termed the post-results analyst meeting as positive. Nomura analysts said the management's comments suggested "project execution remains top notch, earnings outlook remains robust".

Bharti Airtel rose as much as 1.95 percent after Singapore Telecommunications Ltd said it would buy 7.39 percent of the holding company, Bharti Telecom Ltd.

(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)