BENGALURU, July 1 Reuters Indian shares inched higher on Monday, helped by gains in autos ahead of monthly sales data for June and information technology stocks on renewed hopes of an interest rate cut in the U.S. in September.

The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.21 to 24,061.45 points, while the SP BSE Sensex added 0.2 to 79,191.55 points as of 1012 a.m. IST.

Nine out of the thirteen major subsectoral indexes were trading higher on the day.

Auto stocks added 0.5, with investors eyeing automobile companies39; monthly sales data for June. Bajaj Auto, the first automaker to report its data, rose 1.

Hero Motocorp, Bajaj Auto and Maruti Suzuki were among the top gainers in the Nifty 50, up 1 each.

Twowheelers are largely expected to post strong numbers on the back of monsoons progressing well, said Kranthi Bathini, director of equity strategy at WealthMills Securities.

Foreign inflows resuming, optimism related to U.S. rate cuts are also lending support to the benchmarks, Bathini added.

Data on Friday showed U.S inflation for May was unchanged, pushing hopes of a September rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve to 68 from 61 before the data, as per LSEG FedWatch data.

IT stocks, eyeing gains for the third straight session, advanced 1.2 on the day. Indian IT companies are sensitive to Fed rate cuts as they earn the bulk of their revenue from their U.S. clients.

Wipro, Tech Mahindra and Tata Consultancy Services were also among the top gainers in the Nifty 50 index, rising more…