Indian stock market: Benchmark indices Nifty50 and Sensex opened higher on Thursday, taking cues from global counterparts that advanced following the US Federal Reserve's decision to maintain its forecast for three interest rate cuts this year.

In its March 2024 meeting, the Federal Reserve opted to keep the fed funds rate unchanged at a 23-year high of 5.25 per cent-5.5 per cent, aligning with market expectations.

The Sensex kicked off 0.56 per cent higher at 72,507.36, while the Nifty50 started at the 21,989.90-level.

Among the 30 scrips on the Sensex, 28 were trading in the green territory, with Nestle and Sun Pharma being the sole losers.

On the NSE, Tata Steel and LTIMindtree were among the leading gainers.

Sector-wise, Nifty Metal and Nifty IT emerged as top performers. Additionally, in the broader market, both Nifty MidCap 100 and SmallCap 100 surged over 1.30 per cent.

In early trading, RateGain surged after securing an order from US-based Brightline Trains for an advanced rail & airline project.

Shares of Wockhardt saw an increase following the approval by the company's Capital Raising Committee to launch a Qualified Institutional Placement (QIP).

V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services said, “The uncertainty regarding the Fed decision is over with the Fed keeping the rates unchanged and refraining from a hawkish message. The Fed chief’s statement that “inflation has eased substantially while the labour market has remained strong” conveys conviction about the soft landing of the US economy and the possibility of probably three rate cuts this year. The response from the market was the US indices racing to record highs. This favourable global construct will have its positive impact on Indian markets too. The tug of war between FIIs and DIIs has been won by the DIIs for sometime now. The trend will continue if the FIIs continue to sell, and, therefore, FIIs are likely to slow down their selling and may turn buyers. This will be positive for large caps in banking, telecom, capital goods and automobiles.”

Furthermore, investor attention is expected to be focused on RVNL as the company secured the L1 position for a 170-crore project. Other stocks in focus include TVS Motor, JSW Infra, PB Fintech and ONGC among others.