India's GIFT Nifty was up 0.89% at 19,731.50 as of 7:59 a.m. IST on Wednesday, about 300 points above the benchmark Nifty 50's Monday close of 19,443.55.

Wall Street equities climbed higher overnight, with the Nasdaq Composite index gaining 2.4%, its best day in over six months.

The rise came after data showed U.S. consumer price inflation (CPI) remained unchanged in October, the first such in more than a year, after a 0.4% rise in September. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast CPI to rise 0.1%.

The data spurred hopes of an end to the interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve, sparking a rally in stock markets and pushing U.S. Treasury yields lower. Asian markets opened higher on Wednesday, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gaining 2%. [MKTS/GLOB]

Meanwhile, data showed India's annual retail inflation eased to a four-month low of 4.87% in October, below the Reserve Bank of India's upper tolerance band of 6% for a second consecutive month.

Wall Street brokerage Goldman Sachs raised Indian shares to "overweight" from "marketweight" on Monday, citing strong economic fundamentals, earnings momentum and persistent domestic mutual fund inflows as key reasons for the upgrade.

Meanwhile, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) continued to offload Indian equities in November. FIIs sold shares worth 12.44 billion Indian rupees ($149.89 million) on Monday, extending their selling streak to the 15th session.

Domestic institutional investors extended their buying streak for the 19th session in a row, adding a net 8.30 billion rupees worth of shares.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** Biocon: Drug maker's unit Biocon Biologics receives approval from MHRA, UK for an ophthalmology product Yesafili.

** IDFC First Bank: Lender gets in-principle approval from the Pension Fund Regulatory and Development Authority (PFRDA) for the proposed scheme of amalgamation of IDFC and IDFC Financial Holding Company into and with IDFC First Bank.

** Rail Vikas Nigam: Company gets a letter of acceptance from Central Railway for a project worth 3.11 billion rupees.

** Grasim Industries: Company posts drop in second-quarter profit on weak prices in chemicals and textiles business.

($1 = 82.9940 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru)