Indian Shares Modestly Higher In Cautious Trade

(RTTNews) - Indian shares were modestly higher on Wednesday after falling sharply in the previous session on concerns over rising oil and U.S. bond yields amid escalating Middle East tensions.

Underlying sentiment remained cautious somewhat ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision later in the day, with markets pricing in a 92.4 percent chance of a 25-bps rate hike.

The benchmark 30-share BSE Sensex was up 242 points, or 0.3 percent, at 74,246 while the NSE Nifty index edged up by 57 points, or 0.3 percent, to 23,175.

SBI, Axis Bank, Reliance Industries, ITC, HCL Technologies and Mahindra & Mahindra were up 1-2 percent.

One97 Communications rose about 1 percent and Yes Bank rallied 2.6 percent after National Payments Corporation of India announced a 0.4 percent merchant discount rate on UPI transactions above Rs. 2000 from October 15.

Saatvik Green Energy soared 6.5 percent on securing an order worth Rs 1,041.63 crore order from SECI.

India Pesticides jumped almost 13 percent after securing dual regulatory milestones in the U.K. and Argentina.