Indian Shares, Rupee Set To Open Higher After Fed Hikes Interest Rate

Indian shares and the rupee are expected to open marginally higher today helped by the US Federal Reserve policy raising its benchmark lending rate.

Both the Nifty and Sensex had advanced on Wednesday, led by gains in heavyweights Reliance Industries on report of Qatar Sovereign fund's interest in its retail arm and Larsen & Toubro on strong earnings.

The Fed hiked the policy rate by 25 basis points, in-line with expectations while leaving the door open to further rate increases. Fed Chair Jerome Powell at the press conference said it was "certainly possible" that the US central bank would raise at the September meeting if the data warranted.

The Fed has since early last year engaged in the most aggressive tightening campaign since the 1980s in an effort to curb inflation, which in 2022 hit a 40-year high. While policymakers paused rate hikes last month to assess the impact of previous moves, they also signaled at the time that two more increases would probably be appropriate by the end of the year.