India's GIFT Nifty was up 0.31% at 19,803 as of 8:14 a.m. IST, above the benchmark Nifty 50's Monday close of 19,694.

Wall Street equities closed higher, with Nasdaq and S&P 500 settling at their highest levels in more than three months, amid hopes that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not hike interest rates further in this rate hike cycle. [.N]

Investors will now focus on the minutes of the Fed's last policy meeting, due later in the day, for cues on the U.S. central bank's interest rate trajectory.

Asian markets opened higher on the day, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rising 1%. [MKTS/GLOB]

Since the soft U.S. inflation data on Nov. 14, the Nifty 50 has gained 1.29%. Information technology companies, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S., have jumped 5.70% over the same period.

"The recent softening of inflation in the U.S. is expected to help Indian equities in the short term," said Vinod Nair, head of research at Geojit Financial Services.

Analysts added that weakness in financials after Reserve Bank of India's tightening of norms for consumer credit could cap the overall index gains.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold off Indian shares worth 6.46 billion rupees ($77.60 million) on Monday, on a net basis, while domestic institutional investors bought shares worth 777.7 million rupees.

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** ABB India, Titagarh Rail Systems: ABB India forms strategic partnership with Titagarh Rail Systems for metro projects in India

** HDFC Life Insurance, Karnataka Bank: Karnataka Bank signs pact with HDFC Life Insurance to distribute life insurance products

** Tata Power: Company's renewables unit Tata Power Renewable Energy crosses 1.4 gigawatt capacity of group captive projects in the last several months

($1 = 83.2440 Indian rupees)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; editing by Eileen Soreng)