BENGALURU, May 5 (Reuters) – Indian shares rose on Thursday and looked set to snap their three-session losing streak, following Asian peers that rose as the Federal Reserve’s less hawkish tone lifted investor sentiment.

The benchmark indexes closed over 2% lower on Wednesday, having posted their biggest intraday percentage loss since March 7 earlier in the session, after India’s central bank hiked benchmark rate in a surprise move. read more

The Indian rupee strengthened as much as 0.5% to 76 against the dollar, its highest level since April 12.

“Yesterday was a surprise move from the RBI that saw a rate hike but the comforting part was the U.S. Fed’s stance,” said Ajit Mishra, vice president, research at Religare Broking.

The NSE Nifty 50 index (.NSEI) was up 1.36% at 16,904.05 as of 0511 GMT, with most of its major sub-indexes in positive territory, while the S&P BSE Sensex (.BSESN) rose 1.43% to 56,465.56.

Nifty’s public sector bank (.NIFTYPSU), metal (.NIFTYMET), auto (.NIFTYAUTO) and IT (.NIFTYIT) sub-indexes were among the top segment gainers, rising between 2% and 1%.

Two-wheeler maker Hero MotoCorp (HROM.NS) rose 4% and was the top gainer on the Nifty 50, lifting the auto index 1.6%.

In the broader Asian market, shares tracked Wall Street gains after Powell said the Fed was not “actively considering” a 75 basis-point rate hike, tempering some market expectations for an aggressive tightening path. read more

Source by: Reuters