US open with modest gains ahead of Fed & BOJ rate decisions

US stocks ignored weaker-than-expected housing data and opened higher on Tuesday ahead of two major central bank decisions on Wednesday.

According to the data released by commerce department on Tuesday, housing starts for August fell 5.8% on a monthly basis to a seasonally adjusted annual pace of 1.14 million and missed consensus estimates. Meanwhile, building permits dropped marginally to 1.139 million units in August as compared to July's 1.144 million units. 

At opening bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose over 70 points to 18,190 while the broader S&P 500 index gained 8 point to 2,146 and Nasdaq composite advanced 18 points to 5,253.

Tuesday's gains came after Monday's choppy session when stocks struggled to build on to early up-move and reversed all of their gains to close absolutely flat from last week's closing level amid uncertainty over the outcome of the much awaited and talked about BOJ and the Fed monetary policy meetings over the next two days. 

Both the central banks are scheduled to announce their monetary policy decisions on Wednesday. The Federal Reserve is widely expected to leave its interest-rate policy unchanged and hence, market attention would be on BOJ announcement, where markets could expect some policy surprise.