Stock markets edge higher; defensive stocks up ahead of Fed

MUMBAI (Reuters) - The BSE Sensex and Nifty were on their way to snap a four-day losing streak on Wednesday as investors churned positions in favour of exporters, including defensive stocks on caution ahead of the outcome of the U.S. Federal Reserve's policy meeting.

Volatility is expected to increase in the coming session as the expiry of July derivative contracts coincides with the Fed meeting outcome, which will be followed by the Indian central bank's policy review on Aug.4.

Gains also tracked higher global markets amid strong corporate earnings and hopes that Beijing could stem the rout in its markets without damage to the world's second biggest economy.

"Little bit of pullback as expected; given the expiry we should move towards 8,400 (on the NSE index). Whether we sustain it or not is the big question mark," said Gaurang Shah, vice-president at Geojit BNP Paribas.

The BSE Sensex was up 0.42 percent, while the Nifty gained 0.45 percent.

IT stocks led the gainers, with Infosys Ltd up 2.4 percent, HCL Technologies Ltd up 3 percent, Wipro up 1.6 percent.

In pharmaceutical stocks, Sun Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd rose 1.2 percent, while Lupin Ltd was up 1.4 percent.

Jet Airways surged 16 percent on relative valuation on a likely deal between budget carrier Indigo and Qatar and Indigo's upcoming IPO. The stock was also propped by rival SpiceJet reporting a profit for the second consecutive quarter and hopes of cut in jet fuel prices amid weakness in crude oil.

Among the losers, Glenmark Pharmaceuticals fell 3.9 percent after Credit Suisse downgraded the stock to "underperform" from "neutral".

(Reporting by Karen Rebelo; Editing by Prateek Chatterjee)