Sensex, Nifty Close Modestly Higher Ahead Of Fed Policy Announcement

(RTTNews) - Indian benchmark indices Sensex and the Nifty closed higher on Wednesday, extending gains from the previous session, after data from the U.S. Labor Department showed a smaller than expected increase in consumer prices in the world's largest economy in November.

However, with profit taking wiping off some gains, the indices ended the day's session just modestly higher.

Investors were a bit cautious as they looked ahead to the Federal Reserve's monetary policy announcement, due later in the day.

The Fed is widely expected to raise interest rate by another 50 basis points, but it is very likely that the tamer than expected consumer price inflation might prompt the central bank to slow down the pace of rate hikes from early 2023.

The benchmark BSE Sensex ended higher by 144.61 points or 0.23% at 62,677.91, nearly 160 points off the day's high of 62,835.11. The broader Nifty index of the National Stock Exchange settled with a gain of 52.30 points or 0.28% at 18,660.30, off the day's high of 18,696.10.

Technology, realty and metal stocks were among the prominent gainers. Media, healthcare and consumer durables shares too had a fairly good outing.

Hindalco, JSW Steel, ONGC, UPL, Eicher Motors, Tata Steel and Tech Mahindra climbed 1.6 to 2.4%.

State Bank of India, IndusInd Bank, NTPC, Divi's Laboratories, Power Grid Corporation and HCL Technologies also ended notably higher.

Nestle slid 1.6%. ICICI Bank and Bharti Airtel ended lower by 1.28% and 1.1%, respectively. Asian Paints, Hind Unilever, UltraTech Cement and SBI Life also closed weak.

The market breadth was positive. Out of 3,677 stocks seen in action on BSE, 2,034 stocks closed higher. 1,498 stocks ended weak, while 145 stocks settled little changed from their previous closing levels.

In economic news, data released by the government showed the annual rate of inflation based on all India Wholesale Index (WPI) came in at 5.85% (provisional) for the month of November 2022, over the same month last year. WPI Inflation increased by 8.39% in October 2022.