Sensex, Nifty Open Higher On US Rate Cut Bets

(RTTNews) - Indian shares opened on a firm note Thursday as the July FOMC minutes as well as revised data showing a cooling labor market reinforced hopes of a 25-bps rata cut during the September meeting.

The benchmark S&P/BSE Sensex was up 178 points, or 0.2 percent, at 81,083 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was up 50 points, or 0.2 percent, at 24,820.

Infosys, Bharti Airtel, Tata Consumer Products and Grasim rose 1-2 percent while Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Power Grid Corp both fell over 1 percent.

IREDA jumped nearly 8 percent on fund raising reports.

Aarti Drugs soared 7.6 percent on share buyback news.

One 97 Communications rallied 2.8 percent after it agreed to sell its entertainment ticketing business to Zomato for Rs 2,048 crore. Shares of the latter were little changed.

HUDCO advanced 2.2 percent after it joined hands with YEIDA for long-term financial assistance and project consultancy services.

Zen Technologies gained 1 percent after launching a QIP issue.

BEML climbed 2.4 percent after it announced a strategic partnership with Malaysia's SMH Rail Sdn Bhd.

Rail Vikas Nigam rose 1.4 percent after it signed a MoU with M/s Dhaya Maju Infrastructure (Asia) Sdn Berhad (DMIA).