BENGALURU: Indian shares opened marginally higher on Wednesday, led by Maruti Suzuki India ahead of its quarterly results, while analysts expect profit booking to continue as benchmark indexes hover near record highs.

The NSE Nifty 50 was up 0.16% to 24,899.55 points as of 9:27 a.m. IST, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.18% to 81,587.17.

“The level of 25,000 is proving to be tough to cross for Nifty 50, we expect range-bound action and a bit of profit taking to continue,” said Deepak Jasani, head of retail research at HDFC Securities.

The benchmark Nifty 50 rose to a record high of 24,999.75 on Monday.

“Buying interest keep retrieving prices on every attempt to slip due to profit booking,” said Anand James, chief market strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Eight of the 13 sectors logged gains in early trade.

Indian shares close flat as profit-booking continues

Automaker Maruti Suzuki India rose 1% ahead of its June quarter results due later in the day. Torrent Power jumped 5.2% after reporting a rise in its first-quarter profit on robust demand.

India’s brokerage stocks like Angel One, 5Paisa, SMC Global fell between 2% and 2.5% after the markets regulator announced proposals to curb the heightened activity in the country’s options markets.

Securities and Exchange Board of India late on Tuesday proposed measures, including raising the minimum trading amount by over three times, to curb the exuberance in options trading.

These proposals, if implemented, will likely impact volumes, analysts said.