BENGALURU: Indian shares opened little changed on Wednesday, after a nine-session rally that left the benchmark Nifty 50 just shy of record highs, and analysts expect trading to be near current levels ahead of key macroeconomic data later this week.

The NSE Nifty 50 index shed a marginal 0.12% at 24,988.3 as of 9:37 a.m. IST.

The S&P BSE Sensex also dropped 0.07% to 81,656.3.

The Nifty 50 has added about 3.6% in the previous nine sessions, its longest daily winning run in 16 months.

It is currently 90 points shy of its record high. Foreign institutional investors (FII) remained net buyers of Indian shares for a fourth session in a row on Tuesday, purchasing shares worth 15.04 billion rupees ($179.2 million).

Domestic institutional investors (DII), though, snapped a 16-session buying streak on Tuesday, offloading shares worth 6.04 billion rupees.

Still, the inflows of $5.8 billion in the 16 sessions indicate ample liquidity in the markets.

The market has entered a consolidation phase and this trend is likely to continue in the near term,“ said VK Vijayakumar, chief investment strategist at Geojit Financial Services.

Indian shares likely to open little changed

The next key triggers for markets will be domestic quarterly growth and US inflation data due later in the week, two analysts said.

All 13 major sectors logged losses.

The heaviest weighted financials and banks lost 0.3% each.

Among individual stocks, Zydus Lifesciences gained 2% after getting the US drug regulator’s approval for its Parkinson’s drug.