BENGALURU: Indian shares were set to gain for a third straight session on Thursday, as metals stocks led a broad-based advance, while a dovish outlook from the US central bank kept investor sentiment upbeat globally.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.38% to 14,875.65, while the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.45% at 49,885.26 by 0354 GMT.

The Nifty metals index climbed 1.66%, the most among 14 sectoral indexes, which were all also higher.

Hindalco and Tata Steel were the top gainers on the Nifty 50, rising more than 2% each amid steel prices in China hitting a record.

Other Asian share markets were largely flat but S&P 500 futures climbed 0.3% to a new peak after minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting showed members were in no rush to scale back their $120 billion a month of bond buying.