BENGALURU: Indian shares opened higher on Wednesday, as a fall in global oil prices boosted sentiment, while investors awaited domestic retail inflation data and quarterly earnings results from IT firm Wipro later in the day.

India, the world’s third-biggest importer and consumer of oil, benefits from a fall in prices as it brings down imported inflation. The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.21% to 17,020 as of 0347 GMT, and the S&P BSE Sensex was up 0.1% to 57,206.47.

On Tuesday, both the indexes had closed at a one-week low - marking their third straight session of losses - on the back of risk aversion globally.

Oil prices fell for a third straight session on Wednesday, as investors were concerned about a hit to fuel demand amidst fears of a global recession and tightening of COVID-19 curbs in China.

Indian shares fall 1.5% amid global risk aversion

Meanwhile, a Reuters poll found India’s retail inflation accelerated to a five-month high of 7.30% in September due to surging food prices, staying well above the Reserve Bank of India’s upper tolerance band for a ninth month.

The data is due after market hours.

Nifty’s IT sector index advanced 0.79% in early trade and was the top performer among other sub-indexes.

IT service providers Wipro Ltd and HCL Technologies Ltd climbed 0.8% and 2%, respectively, ahead of their quarterly earnings results later in the day.

Asian stocks were at two-year lows on Wednesday, driven by volatility on Wall Street, a stronger dollar, and instability in the U.K. bond market. Markets also awaited US inflation data on Thursday that kept investors on edge.