The Nifty 50 index rose 0.09% to 17,565.55, while the S&P BSE Sensex edged 0.07% higher to 59,781.56 as of 10:56 a.m. IST.
Both the benchmarks fell over 0.5% earlier in the session.
The fear gauge was at 15.15, hovering near a
three-week high.
The volatility index had risen to 15.59 on Wednesday, highest since Feb 2, the day after the union budget. While the Federal Reserve's latest minutes, released late on Wednesday, indicated that a majority of the members favoured smaller rate hikes in subsequent meetings, markets, however, declined as a slew of macroeconomic data since that meeting have kept fears of an aggressive rate hike path intact. A majority of the RBI's policy committee members reiterated that it would be premature to lower the guard against inflation. "Only value stocks are likely to do well, in the near term," said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets. "The Nifty 50 is likely to consolidate with no major directional moves in the next few months, till clarity emerges on the rate hike trajectory". Analysts also anticipated high volatility in Thursday's session ahead of the February series derivatives expiry. Nine of the 13 sectoral indexes rose with metal index rising 1.4%. The metal index had lost 4.6% over the last four sessions.
Tata Steel , the highest weighted stock in the metal index, rose over 2% after brokerage Citi identified the company among its top sectoral picks, citing strong demand and normalising coking coal prices. Zee Entertainment tumbled 8% after the National Company Law Tribunal admitted the company to corporate insolvency resolution process, in a petition filed by IndusInd Bank. The media index fell over 2%.
($1 = 82.8010 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Savio D'Souza, Nivedita Bhattacharjee)
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