The two key equity benchmarks, Sensex and Nifty, on Wednesday started on a positive note, ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. At 9.46 am, the BSE Sensex rose 306 points to 66,662. On the other hand, the NSE Nifty was trading at 19,765, up 84 points.


On the 30-share Sensex platform, L&T, Tata Motors, ITC, PowerGrid, Sun Pharma, Reliance were trading in the green. On the downside, HDFC Bank, TechM, ICICI Bank, M&M, TCS emerged early losers.


Among individual stocks, shares of L&T rallied 4 per cent to hit a new high on strong June quarter results and board's approval of Rs 10,000 crore share buyback. Shares of Tata Motors DVR soared over 14 per cent on board's proposal to convert DVR shares into ordinary shares.


In the broader markets, Nifty Midcap 100 and Nifty Smallcap 100 indices gained up to 0.3 per cent.


Sectorwise, Nifty Auto, Nifty FMCG, and Nifty Realty indices inched higher in trade, rising up to 0.4 per cent.


In the previous session on Tuesday, the S&P BSE Sensex closed the day with a marginal loss of 29 points at 66,356, while the NSE Nifty50 finally settled 8 points higher at 19,681.


In Asian markets, Seoul, Tokyo, Shanghai, and Hong Kong were trading lower. The US markets ended in the positive territory on Tuesday.


"Globally, market participants will be closely watching the Fed chief Jerome Powell’s comments about the disinflation process in the US and the likely trend in interest rates. A 25 basis points rate hike, already discounted by the market, will not trigger any market move. But if the Fed chief indicates that inflation is coming under control and, therefore, no further rate hikes are needed, that will be a big trigger for markets to move up. But such an outcome is highly unlikely since the Fed will play it safe even if inflation is coming under control," said V K Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Financial Services.


Global oil benchmark Brent crude was trading 0.42 per cent lower at $83.29 a barrel.


Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) were buyers on Tuesday as they bought equities worth Rs 1,088.76 crore, according to exchange data.


Meanwhile, the rupee depreciated 7 paise to 81.95 against the US dollar in early trade on Wednesday, tracking elevated level of the American currency against major rivals overseas as well as higher crude price.


Crude oil prices hovering above $83 per barrel and cautious move by investors ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision later in the day weighed on the domestic unit, even as robust sentiment in the domestic market capped the fall, forex traders said.


At the interbank foreign exchange, the domestic unit opened at 81.89. It touched the peak of 81.87 and hit the lowest level of 81.96 before trading at 81.95 against the greenback, registering a fall of 7 paise from its previous close. On Tuesday, the rupee had settled at 81.88 against the dollar.