Sensex Edges Higher, Nifty Rises Above 8,100

BSE Sensex and Nifty were higher today but the gains were capped after the US central bank ended its historic stimulus programme in a move widely expected.

Asian stocks were mixed and the dollar surged to a three-week high versus the yen after the US Federal Reserve ended its massive quantitative easing programme, as expected, but laced its economic assessment with a tinge of optimism.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.6 per cent. In a statement on Wednesday after a two-day meeting, the Fed ended its quantitative easing programme of bond purchases. At its peak, the programme pumped $85 billion a month into the financial system.

The Fed did retain its basic guidance that overnight borrowing costs would remain near zero for a "considerable time".

But it dropped the characterisation of the US labour market slack as "significant" in a show of confidence in the economy's prospects, the part markets perceived as containing a slightly hawkish bent by spelling a turn towards a new regime. (With Agency Inputs)