Sensex, Nifty Snap Two-day Losing Streak

(RTTNews) - Indian shares eked out modest gains on Thursday after the minutes from the Federal Reserve's July monetary policy meeting showed that officials were still split over the timing of the next interest-rate rise despite a strong rebound in employment in June.

With weak growth in the U.S. and abroad and consumer price inflation continuing to run below the Committee's longer-run objective of 2 percent, Fed officials stopped short of any signals on the timing of their next move.

Meanwhile, Moody's Investors Service today retained India's growth forecast at 7.5 percent for 2016, saying the outlook will be determined by domestic factors.

The benchmark BSE Sensex rose 118.07 points or 0.42 percent to 28,123.44, snapping a two-day losing streak. The broader Nifty index finished up 49.20 points or 0.57 percent at 8,673.25, the highest level since August 9.

Among top gainers, ONGC, HDFC Bank, Grasim, ICICI Bank, Adani Ports, NTPC, IndusInd Bank and UltraTech climbed 1-5 percent.

Bharti Airtel rose over 2 percent after Singapore Telecommunications (SingTel) agreed to boost its holding in Bharti Telecom, a holding company of the telecom major. Gammon India soared 8.5 percent on securing a NHAI contract worth Rs.870 crore.

Power Grid Corp. Of India jumped 4.6 percent in reaction to the management commentary at an analyst meet. Fortis Healthcare rallied 3 percent ahead of a board meeting on Friday to discuss details for demerger of its diagnostic business.

IT stocks extended losses for the third straight session, with Infosys, Wipro and Tech Mahindra closing down about 1 percent each.