Stock market benchmark Sensex edged higher today on value-buying in blue-chips ahead of exit poll results for Gujarat election. Asian stocks moved sideways. In early noon trade, the Sensex was up 30 points at 33,083 while Nifty hovered near 10,200. The Sensex had lost 402.75 in the previous two sessions disappointed by grim economic data and the ADB lowering India's economic growth forecast.
In her final act as the Fed chair, Janet Yellen moved to hike rates to a range of 1.25 per cent to 1.5 per cent, citing solid US job growth and household spending. The central bank kept its policy outlook on additional increases for 2018 and 2019 unchanged.
Prominent gainers were Dr Reddy's, ONGC, Wipro, Bharti Airtel, Infosys, Heromoto Corp and Lupin.
Sectoral indices, including realty, consumer durables, oil and gas and metal stocks traded positive, with gains of up to 0.85 per cent. Investors took their cue from another Wall Street record after an upbeat assessment of the US economy by the Federal Reserve.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng was up by 0.29 per cent while Japan's Nikkei fell 0.14 per cent and Shanghai Composite shed 0.20 per cent in early trade today.
The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.33 per cent higher yesterday.
