BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares were set to rise on Tuesday after domestic retail inflation eased below the central bank's tolerance limit in November bolstering hopes of moderation in the pace of interest rate hikes.

India's NSE stock futures listed on the Singapore exchange were up 0.22% to 18,638, as of 8 a.m. IST.

India's annual retail inflation rose 5.88% in November from 6.77% in October, aided by a softer rise in food prices, government data showed on Monday. Analysts in a Reuters poll had predicted a November reading of 6.40%.

Investors will now focus on the U.S. inflation data due at 7:00 p.m. IST (1330 GMT) and the Federal Reserve's rate decision, scheduled later this week.

Wall Street equities advanced overnight as investors took an optimistic stance hoping that the now-hefty pace of increases in interest rates will finally slow.

Asian markets were off to a mixed start on Tuesday, with the MSCI Asia ex Japan rising 0.24%.

Capping gains in the domestic market could be the rise in crude oil prices, which were buoyed by U.S. supply concerns and expectations of a demand boost from China.

The rise in oil prices is a negative for oil-importing countries like India, where crude constitutes the bulk of the import bill.

Foreign institutional investors extended their selling spree for the sixth session in a row, the longest in seven weeks, offloading 1.39 billion rupees ($16.82 million) worth of equities on a net basis on Monday.

Meanwhile, domestic investors bought 6.96 billion rupees ($84.23 million) worth of shares, as per provisional NSE data.

Stocks To Watch:

** Dalmia Bharat: Co's subsidiary to buy cement and power businesses of Jaiprakash Associates for 56.66 billion rupees, including debt.

** Tata Motors: Co exploring sale of portion of its 74.43% stake in Tata Technologies through an IPO.

** KEC International: Co gets orders worth 13.49 billion rupees.

** Maruti Suzuki: Co unveils India's first mass segment Flex Fuel prototype car, designed to run on an ethanol-petrol blend

(This story has been refiled to add dropped word 'and' in in paragraph 7)

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Eileen Soreng)