nifty
A man walks past the NSE (National Stock Exchange) building in Mumbai, India. REUTERS

Indian shares rose on Monday, tracking gains in other Asian equities as geopolitical tensions over North Korea's nuclear and missile programme receded.

Asian shares gained after North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un decided to hold a party over the weekend rather than launch another missile.

South Korea's main index added 0.8 percent, while MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan gained 0.4 percent.

Pyongyang held a massive celebration to congratulate the nuclear scientists and technicians who steered the country's sixth and largest nuclear test a week earlier, Reuters reported.

At 0630 GMT, the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.67 percent at 31,901 while the broader NSE Nifty rose 0.74 percent at 10,007.

Among the top index gainers, Larsen and Toubro advanced 2.6 percent, Maruti Suzuki rose 1.6 percent, HDFC Bank rose 1.7 percent while Hindustan Unilever gained 1.4 percent.

The S&P BSE Auto Index added 0.8 percent while the S&P BSE Capital Goods index was up 2 percent.

Bharat Financial Inclusion gained 1.5 percentwhile IndusInd Bank was up 1.2 percent after the company confirmed that it is in pact with IndusInd Bank for exploring a merger.

Larsen & Toubro Ltd extended its gains for second session on hopes of large defence orders from the government.

Religare Enterprises jumped 5 percent. Religare Enterprise sold its entire stake in Cerestra Advisors to a team led by the managing partner of the firm for Rs 5.73 crore.

Market breadth was in the favour of gainers, with about 2 stocks advancing to every 1 stock that declined.