The Indian equity benchmark indices opened higher on Thursday led by gains in metals and banking stocks following strong global cues.

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At 9:15 am, the Sensex opened 0.72 percent, or 359.63 points higher at 50,161.25, while the Nifty50 index opened at 14,855.50, up 134.20 points, or 0.91 percent.

Investor sentiment was boosted after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and projected a surge in US economic growth.

Broader markets supported the upmove, with Nifty Smallcap100 and Nifty Midcap100 indices up over 1 percent each.

Gains were witnessed across sectors with the metal index gaining the most, over 2 percent followed by Nifty PSU Banks, Nifty Auto and Nifty Financial Services.

Tata Steel, JSW Steel, Bajaj Finance, Hindalco Industries and Tata Motors were the Nifty50 top gainers, while Infosys, Dr Reddy's Laboratories and Hero MotoCorp were the only ones to trade in the red.

Shares of Bharat Heavy Electricals jumped over 6 percent after the company emerged as the lowest bidder for Rs 10,800 crore fleet mode tender floated by Nuclear Power Corporation of India (NPCIL) for the 6x700 MW Turbine Island package projects.

On the global front, Asian shares and US stock futures rose on Thursday after the Federal Reserve committed to maintaining accommodative monetary policy and projected a rapid jump in US economic growth this year as the COVID-19 crisis eases, said Reuters report.

MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.99 percent, while stocks in China rose 0.46 percent. Australia's market bucked the trend and fell 0.3 percent.

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