Nifty, Sensex rise; Infosys top gainer

By Krishna V Kurup

(Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Wednesday, boosted by IT stocks such as Infosys Ltd, while broader Asian markets were lacklustre amid conflicting signals on prospects for de-escalating the Sino-U.S. trade dispute.

Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump is prepared to hike tariffs on Chinese imports if there is no breakthrough on longstanding trade irritants during a Saturday night dinner with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow said on Tuesday.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan see-sawed between positive and negative territory and was last up 0.2 percent.

Back home, investors awaited exit polls coming out of elections in the states of Madhya Pradesh and Mizoram, as the results will set the tone for the national elections scheduled in May 2019.

The broader NSE Nifty was up 0.47 percent at 10,736.15 as of 0610 GMT, while the benchmark BSE Sensex rose 0.66 percent to 35,746.60.

Markets are stronger due to the way crude prices have corrected, the way rupee has strengthened in the last couple of weeks, and hopes that a trade truce between U.S. and China could come out of the G20 summit, said Hitesh Agarwal, EVP and Head - Retail Research, Religare Broking.

Oil prices have lost around 30 percent in value since early October, weighed down by an emerging supply overhang and by widespread weakness in financial markets.

"There could be some jittery-ness that could creep in as we move closer to results of exit polls of the state elections. These are important results for the ruling party," Agarwal said.

With state elections slated over coming months and a general election scheduled for May, Indian shares could remain subdued until the results become clear, according a poll conducted by Reuters.

IT stocks rose, with the Nifty IT index rising as much as 1.9 percent. Infosys was among the top gainers, rising up to 3.3 percent.

Financial stocks also rose with HDFC Bank Ltd gaining 1 percent.

Shares of non-banking financial services company Reliance Capital Ltd rose after it posted a profit for the quarter ending Sept. 30, compared to a loss last year.

(Reporting by Krishna V Kurup in Bengaluru; Editing by Sunil Nair)