Shares had fallen sharply on Monday as Iran and the United States traded threats after a US airstrike killed a top Iranian commander. The mood calmed a little as the session passed with no new aggression.
The heightened tensions sent investors scurrying for the safety of gold, which hit a near seven-year high, while oil jumped to four-month peak.
Reports said the White House's trade adviser said on Monday that the US-China phase one trade deal will likely be signed in the next week but the confirmation will come from President Donald Trump or the US Trade Representative.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan was up by 0.55 per cent while Japan's Nikkei lay flat. Japan has approved a record budget for the coming fiscal year in a bid to shore up growth.
Bharti Infratel gained by 3.5 per cent to Rs 257.10 per share while Tata Motors ticked up by 3 per cent. Private lenders ICICI Bank and Axis Bank showed gains of 1.4 per cent and 0.9 per cent.
Hong Kong's Hang Seng index led the losses and was down by more than 1 per cent after police fired live rounds at protestors on the eastern side of Hong Kong island.
Among the gainers were pharma majors like Cipla, Dr Reddy's and Sun Pharma besides Yes Bank, Mahindra & Mahindra, Tech Mahindra, Coal India and Bharat Petroleum Corporation.
MSCI's broadest index of Asia Pacific shares outside Japan ticked up by 0.1 per cent after hitting a four-month high the previous day.
At 10:15 am, the BSE S&P Sensex was up by 186 points at 40,351 while the Nifty 50 edged higher by 62 points to 11,953. All sectoral indices at the National Stock Exchange were in the green except for Nifty media which slipped by 1.2 per cent.
Auto stocks like Mahindra & Mahindra, Tata Motors and Hero MotoCorp suffered losses ranging between 1 and 1.6 per cent.
