INDIA STOCKS-Indian shares edge higher; investors await TCS earnings, US CPI

(Updates at 10:22 a.m. IST)

By Bharath Rajeswaran

Oct 10 (Reuters) - Indian shares rose on Thursday as minutes from the Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting reinforced hopes of more rate cuts in the United States, which could likely trigger more inflows into emerging markets.

The Nifty 50 index was up 0.44% at 25,090.8 points as of 10:22 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.49% to 81,850.59.

Other Asian markets also advanced on the day, led by China, after the country's central bank kicked off measures to support its capital markets.

The MSCI Asia ex-Japan index rose 1.25%. Wall Street equities gained overnight.

Minutes of the Fed's September policy meeting showed that a majority of the U.S. central bank officials supported the outsized 50-basis-point rate cut and indicated further easing.

However, investors have scaled back expectations for aggressive rate cuts after last week's strong U.S. jobs report.

Investors now await the U.S. consumer price index data on Thursday and Indian companies' earnings.

India's top information technology company Tata Consultancy Services reports its quarterly results later in the day. Its shares rose 0.3%.

Twelve of the 13 major sectors logged gains on the day while the broader, more domestically-focussed small- and mid-caps gained about 0.7% each.

India's benchmarks have logged losses in seven of the last eight sessions, dragged by worries over the escalation of the Middle East conflict and foreign outflows.

While the outlook for Indian markets remains positive, a moderation in earnings could bring down inflated valuations and temper investor expectations, Yogesh Patil, chief investment officer of equity at LIC Mutual Fund AMC said.

On the day, construction companies - PNC Infratech and G R Infraprojects gained 4% each, on order wins.

Star Health Insurance fell 2.2% after the company said it was a victim of a cyberattack which resulted in unauthorised access to certain data.

VA Tech Wabag rose 4% after the water treatment company secured orders from Reliance Industries .

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips and Mrigank Dhaniwala)