Sensex mirrors Asian gains, goes up after Fed holds rates

Mumbai: Stock markets rose on Thursday, in line with upbeat Asian shares, following an optimistic appraisal of economic conditions by the US Federal Reserve.

The US central bank left interest rates unchanged at the end of its two-day policy meet, but remains on path for a possible December hike as it cited "solid rate" of growth.

This lifted Asian markets, which in turn made the 30- share Sensex firm up 45.53 points, or 0.13 percent, to 33,645.80. It rallied 387.14 points to close at a record high of 33,600.27 in the previous session.

Healthcare, consumer durables, IT, oil and gas, realty, technology and banking indices made gains.

The National Stock Exchange index Nifty too was up 8.55 points, or 0.08 percent, to trade at 10,449.05.

Big gainers were Sun Pharma, Lupin, Cipla, Bajaj Auto, ICICI Bank and TCS, rising by up to 2.65 percent.

Hong Kong's Hang Seng moved up 0.10 percent while Japan's Nikkei rose 0.23 percent today, but Shanghai Composite shed 0.47 percent.

The US Dow Jones Industrial Average ended 0.25 percent up yesterday.