Indian shares opened higher on Thursday, tracking Asian peers, after minutes from the Federal Reserve’s latest policy meeting reinforced hopes of more US rate cuts, which could likely trigger higher foreign inflows to emerging markets.

The Nifty 50 index was up 0.19% at 25,029.95 points as of 9:23 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.2% to 81,629.6.

Other Asian markets advanced on the day, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rising 1.25%. Wall Street equities gained overnight, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 logging record closing highs.

The upbeat performances came in after minutes of Fed’s September policy meeting hinted at further rate cuts. Domestically, the Reserve Bank of India eased its policy stance to “neutral” from a hawkish “withdrawal of accommodation” on Wednesday, setting the stage for rate cuts.

Indian shares set to open higher

Analysts said the earnings season starting with India’s top information technology company Tata Consultancy Services later in the day will influence the near-term trajectory of domestic equities.

Tata Consultancy Services rose 0.5% ahead of reporting its quarterly results later in the day. Twelve of the 13 major sectors logged gains.

The broader, more domestically-focussed small- and mid-caps gained about 0.6% each. Among individual stocks, PNC Infratech and G R Infraprojects gained 5% and 4%, respectively, on order wins.

Star Health Insurance fell 2.2% after the company said it was a victim of a cyberattack which resulted in unauthorised access to certain data.