BENGALURU: Indian shares are set to open higher on Friday as risk appetite improved across global markets on optimism that the US Federal Reserve may not hike rates again in this cycle.

India’s GIFT Nifty was up 0.70% at 19,357.50 as of 8:10 a.m. IST, over 200 points above the Nifty 50’s Thursday close of 19,133.25.

Asian markets advanced, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gaining nearly 1%.

Wall Street equities rallied overnight, with key indexes gaining over 1.5%, while US 10-year Treasury yields fell to a three-week low.

Global stocks rose and US bond yields slid after the Fed held rates steady in the 5.25%-5.50% range on Wednesday, in a less hawkish-than-expected stance on monetary policy.

“A pause with dovish commentary from the Fed on Wednesday has triggered a rebound in global and domestic market sentiment,” said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

Indian shares join global rally on bets of end to Fed rate hikes

India’s blue-chips Nifty 50 and Sensex have gained nearly 0.5% each this week, on track to snap a two-week losing streak.

Foreign institutional investors remained net sellers on Thursday, offloading 12.61 billion rupees ($151.54 million) of shares on a net basis. Domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 13.80 billion rupees.