Indian shares open higher ahead of the Fed rate decision

BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares opened higher on Wednesday, tracking a rise in global peers as concerns over banking eased further after the Credit Suisse rescue, while investors await the U.S. Federal Reserve rate decision later in the day.

The Nifty 50 index was up 0.23% at 17,146.35, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.21% to 58,196.91 as of 9:35 a.m. IST.

Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced with information technology (IT) stocks rising over 1%. Thirty-six of the Nifty 50 constituents logged gains.

The rise follows an uptick in global equities as concerns over a banking crisis further eased after U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen vowed to protect depositors in smaller banks following the failures of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank.

The Swiss government-backed takeover of Credit Suisse by UBS over the weekend eased concerns over financial stability, for the time being.

Global markets now await the Fed decision, which comes amid contagion risks in banking. The odds of a 25-basis-points (bps) hike are 84.9%.

Among individual stocks, Ashiana Housing jumped 14% after crossing the annual booking value guidance of 11 bln rupees for 2022-23.

Hindustan Zinc climbed over 4% after approving the fourth interim dividend of 26 rupees per share

($1 = 82.6500 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil)