Indian shares stayed in a holding pattern just off record highs on Wednesday as investors turned cautious ahead of this month's quarterly results from key firms. The bonds struggled to find direction ahead of next week's central bank monetary policy review.
The 30-issue benchmark BSE index hit an all-time high of 7,392.67 points in early trade, but ended a tad lower at 7,342.89 points.
"The market is in a consolidation phase. There is profit booking at every rise and buying at lower levels," said Deven Choksey, managing director of KRC Shares & Securities.
"The trend is clearly positive and I am not worried about minor corrections from time to time."
The Mumbai index has gained more than 13 percent since the start of the financial year on April 1, boosted by robust foreign fund flows into Asia's third-largest economy, which is forecast to grow 7 percent this year.
Choksey pegged the immediate resistance level for the BSE index at 7,554 points and support at 7,102 points.
Traders said investors largely shrugged off Chinese economic data, which showed Asia's second-largest economy grew 9.5 percent in the second quarter despite government attempts to cool it.
India's biggest petrochemicals maker and index heavyweight Reliance Industries Ltd was the top gainer among blue chip shares, rising 2.1 percent, while state-run power equipment maker Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd added 2 percent.
But India's second largest software exporter, Infosys Technologies Ltd, dropped 1.1 percent after its head of global sales quit to start his own company.
Bonds inched up as investors who sold debt earlier in the day came back hunting bargains amid uncertainty about whether the central bank would raise or hold interest rates next week.
The yield on the eight-year 7.27 percent bond eased to 7.0827 percent from 7.0957 percent in the morning.