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Indian shares recovered from early losses on Monday, as a fall in oil prices and strengthening automobile stocks boosted investor sentiment.

The NSE Nifty 50 index rose 0.36% at 17,460.85, as of 0513 GMT, and the S&P BSE Sensex climbed 0.44% to 58,645.12. The benchmark indexes on Friday had logged their third straight weekly gain, advancing 1.4% each.

"The price of crude staying below 95 and foreign investors buying Indian shares last week are mainly the two factors that are keeping us positive," said Neeraj Dewan, director at Quantum Securities.

Foreign investors have poured $1.79 billion into Indian equities so far this month, according to Refinitiv data.

Meanwhile, oil prices hovered near multi-month lows on Monday, as data pointed to a slow recovery in China's crude imports in July. [O/R]

India, the world's third largest importer of oil, benefits from fall in crude prices as it brings down imported inflation.

In Mumbai trading, Nifty's auto index advanced more than 0.6%. Automaker Mahindra and Mahindra was the top performer on the Nifty 50, gaining as much as 2.6%.

Among individual stock moves, State Bank of India fell as much as 3.2% and was the top drag on Nifty 50 index. The bank, on Saturday, missed estimates with a 6.7% fall in first-quarter profit hit by investment losses.

FSN E-Commerce Ventures, parent of cosmetics-to-fashion retailer Nykaa, rose as much as 4.4% after it reported a rise in quarterly profit.

Indian markets will be closed on Tuesday for a holiday.

Investors are awaiting data from U.S. on consumer prices due on Wednesday which will offer more clues on the pace of rate hikes by the Federal Reserve.

A solid U.S. payrolls data, last week, pushed back against talks of recession in the world's largest economy, but also bolstered the case for more super-sized rate hikes.