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Indian shares trimmed gains on Wednesday, as information technology stocks reversed early gains and offset the broad sectoral rise, ahead of the June-quarter earnings of top companies.
The Nifty 50 index rose 0.18% to 19,784.25, with the S&P BSE Sensex in toe at 66,921.20, as of 12:56 p.m. IST.
Both benchmarks rose nearly 0.5% and hit fresh all-time highs for the fourth straight session earlier in the day.
Twelve of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced, with media stocks rising nearly 1%, led by an uptick in TV18 Broadcast post an increase in June quarter earnings.
High-weightage IT stocks erased 0.5% gains and are on course to snap a four-day winning streak.
IT firms, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the U.S. and Europe, had risen over the last four sessions on hopes of the U.S. Federal Reserve nearing the end of its monetary policy tightening cycle.
"A pause is obviously inevitable after the recent surge powered by robust foreign inflows and macro data" said Narendra Solanki, head of fundamental research at domestic brokerage Anand Rathi Investment Services.
"Investors are likely to be cautious ahead of the Fed rate decision on July 26 as the commentary would provide cues into the future rate-hiking path."
Among individual stocks, NTPC rose over 4%, topping the Nifty 50 after brokerage Goldman Sachs identified it as the top pick in the power sector.
IndusInd Bank rose as much as 3.82% after beating the quarterly profit view on loan growth and a drop in provisions.
Hindustan Unilever lost 0.5% ahead of its earnings on Thursday.
Several other Nifty 50 constituents, including Infosys , Ultratech Cement, Reliance Industries , and ICICI Bank will report their quarterly earnings later this week. ($1 = 82.0990 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema and Dhanya Ann Thoppil)