Indian shares struggled for direction on Wednesday, trading in a narrow range as consolidation continued ahead of key U.S. and domestic economic data.

The blue-chip index NSE Nifty 50 was down 0.04% at 22,190.50, while the BSE Sensex shed 0.02% to 73,079.77, as of 09:55 a.m. IST.

While the benchmark Nifty hit record highs in all five sessions last week, it has traded within a narrow 150-point range for four sessions in a row, including today.

"We are in for some more consolidation, over the next few sessions," said Samrat Dasgupta, CEO of Esquire Capital Investment Advisors, adding "the positives are factored-in and markets are priced to perfection."

"However, any dip should be an opportunity to buy into the pre-election rally, likely to begin from second-half of March," Dasgupta added.

The highest weighted of the 13 major sectors, financials , information technology and energy , were all little changed.

The broader, more domestically-focussed small- and mid-caps rose 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively, outperforming the benchmarks.

"Small- and mid-caps represent a risk area for the markets, the valuations in these segments are a really big concern. Multiple asset managers are stopping taking in funds in the segments, while market regulator has sought more disclosures from funds," Dasgupta added.

Among individual stocks, Vedanta gained about 3% after its management forecast $3 billion of debt reduction at parent Vedanta Resources by fiscal 2027, in an analyst meet.

CLSA upgraded the stock to "underperform" from "sell", citing likely improvement in operational parameters due to deleveraging.

Broader Asian markets were flat, ahead of the release of the Federal Reserve's preferred measure of inflation - the U.S. core personal consumption expenditures price index - on Thursday.

Domestic data, due on the same day, is expected to show India's growth likely moderated to 6.6% year-on-year in the October-December quarter.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Dhanya Ann Thoppil and Sonia Cheema)