Nifty, Sensex close higher led by financial services, tech stocks and Reliance

Gold prices hit a near three-week high on Thursday after the US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signalled the central bank could slow the pace of rate hikes in the coming months, which weighed on the dollar and Treasury yields.

Even as MSCI’s broadest gauge, Asia Pacific ex-Japan, index was up 0.5 percent key European indices and S&P futures were in the red which hinted at a lower start for the Wall Street.

Investors scented a possible slowdown in the pace of US rate hikes that had comforted bond markets and sent the dollar to a three-week low on the yen.

Europe made an upbeat start as record-busting $11.5 billion profits from oil giant Shell sent commodities shares soaring, although momentum quickly faded ahead of what was expected to be some shaky euro zone confidence data later.

The US Fed on Wednesday announced that it is increasing interest rates by 75 basis points, or 0.75 percent, in its continued bid to combat inflation. But by increasing the rates, the US Fed further fueled fears of a recession. This was the central bank's first back-to-back rate hike in the US since the 1980s.

Powell sounded suitably hawkish on curbing inflation in his news conference, but also dropped guidance on the size of the next rate rise and noted that "at some point" it would be appropriate to slow down.