By Krishna V Kurup
(Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Monday, tracking gains in Asian peers after favourable U.S. jobs data boosted risk appetite, with heavyweights Reliance Industries Ltd and ICICI Bank Ltd driving the indexes higher.
The U.S. payrolls report on Friday showed strength in the world's biggest economy, as it created more jobs than expected in June, but steady wage gains pointed to moderate inflation pressures that should keep the Federal Reserve on a path of gradual interest rate increases this year.
Asian shares were higher, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan climbing 1.4 percent.
"Confluence of global stability, a sense that the rupee has bottomed and current valuations (of stocks) are holding the market up," Harendra Kumar, Managing Director at Elara securities said.
The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.59 percent at 10,836.10 as of 0620 GMT while the benchmark BSE Sensex rose 0.61 percent to 35,874.81.
For the last few weeks the U.S.-China trade tiff kept markets in check. However, investors are now shifting their focus to corporate earnings starting with India's biggest software services exporter Tata Consultancy services (TCS) reporting quarterly results on Tuesday.
Shares in Reliance Industries Ltd rose 1.2 percent and ICICI Bank Ltd gained 1.4 percent while TCS slipped 1.4 percent.
Tata Steel Ltd rose more than 2 percent after the company reported an 8 percent rise in quarterly domestic production.
Shares of Fortis Healthcare Ltd gained as much as 5.7 percent on reports that Malaysia's IHH Healthcare Bhd is likely to acquire control of the hospital operator.
Optical fibre cable maker Sterlite Technologies Ltd climbed as much as 6.6 percent after it said on Friday its unit has agreed to buy Italy's Metallurgica Bresciana for about 47 million euros.
(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan)
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