INDIA STOCKS-Indian stocks edge up ahead of Fed rate decision

By Bharath Rajeswaran and Vivek Kumar M

Dec 10 (Reuters) - India’s equity benchmarks logged modest gains on Wednesday, mirroring Asian peers, as investors waited for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s rate decision due later in the day.

The Nifty 50 .NSEI rose 0.36% to 25,932.70 and the BSE Sensex .BSESN gained 0.36% to 84,967.39 as of 10:24 a.m. IST.

The indexes lost about 1.2% each over the past two sessions on persistent foreign selling amid Fed caution and uncertainty over a U.S. trade deal.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.2%.MKTS/GLOB

The Fed is widely expected to cut rates at its ongoing meeting, but investors expect policymakers to remain divided.

All 16 major sectors advanced, though the gains were marginal. The broader small-caps .NIFSMCP100 and mid-caps .NIFMDCP100 rose 0.6% and 0.4%, respectively.

"Today's pullback after the recent slide shows the market's resilience, and indicates Nifty can keep consolidating near 26,000," said G. Chokkalingam, founder and head of research at Equinomics Research.

"The Fed's commentary may jiggle flows in the near term, but the real trigger for a sustained rebound in 2026 will be a clear earnings revival," Chokkalingam added.

Among stocks, e-commerce platform Meesho MEES.NS listed at a 46.4% premium over its issue price of 111 rupees in its stock market debut.

AU Small Finance Bank AUFI.NS gained 3.1% after receiving approval from the Ministry of Finance to increase the foreign investment limit to 74% from 49%.

Vedanta VDAN.NS and Hindustan Zinc HZNC.NS rose 1.4% and 4.3%, respectively, leading metal index .NIFTYMET 0.9% higher after silver prices hit an all-time high in the previous session.

Higher silver prices will benefit Hindustan Zinc which is India's largest silver producer and its large shareholder Vedanta.

IndiGo INGL.NS fell 2% after the government ordered the company to cut 10% of its planned flights after the airline scrapped at least 2000 services last week.

($1 = 89.8690 Indian rupees)