Mumbai, June 19
The Indian benchmark indices opened almost flat on Thursday over the US Federal Reserve policy decision and weak Asian cues, as selling was seen in the IT, PSU bank, FMCG and pharma sectors in the early trade.
At around 9.34 am, Sensex was trading 1.66 points or 0.00 per cent marginally up at 81,446.32 while the Nifty added 9.90 point or 0.04 per cent at 24,821.95
Nifty Bank was up 43.15 points or 0.08 per cent at 555,871.90 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 58,068.85 after dropping 40.35 points or 0.07 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,404.05 after adding 25.60 points or 0.14 per cent.
According to analysts, as expected, the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged. However, in their statement, policymakers maintained expectations for two rate cuts this year, while a growing minority now anticipates no cuts at all.
"Additionally, the Fed slightly revised its outlook, projecting just one quarter-point cut each in 2026 and 2027," said Mandar Bhojane from Choice Broking.
The 24,500-25,000 range for the Nifty is likely to hold till news from the Israel-Iran conflict change for the better or for the worse. If news of deescalation of tensions break, Nifty will break out of the upper band of the range, said experts.