The Indian equity benchmarks edged higher on Thursday ahead of weekly expiry of index futures and option contracts later in the day. The Sensex rose as over 100 points and Nifty 50 index was trading above its important psychological level of 17,900 led by gains in ITC, Reliance Industries, State Bank of India, ICICI Bank, Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank. However, the upside was capped owing to weakness in Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra, Infosys and Larsen & Toubro.

As of 9:21 am, the Sensex was up 109 points at 60,117 and Nifty 50 index advanced 34 points to 17,933.

Overnight, all three major U.S. indices ended the day lower, as investors processed whether strong consumer activity in the face of rising inflation could spur the Fed to ease back on stimulus faster than once thought.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.58 per cent, the S&P 500 lost 0.26 per cent and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.33 per cent.

The MSCI world equity index, which tracks shares in 45 nations, fell 0.29 per cent.