Indian shares were little changed on Wednesday, as investors booked profits in sectors such as information technology, and caution prevailed ahead of key events during the week.
The Indian government is expected to announce hikes in minimum support price for several food items later in the day, a move seen as wooing the farm sector.
Asian stocks slipped on Wednesday as an end-of-week deadline for U.S. tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chinese imports loomed while the yuan stabilised after China's central bank moved to calm nervous investors.
"Lack of triggers is making market lackluster. There is some portfolio shuffling where people might be booking profit in IT and moving to pharma," said Siddhartha Khemka, Head of Retail Research, Motilal Oswal Securities, adding that global issues are keeping the market cautious.
The broader Nifty was flat at 10,699.95 as of 0552 GMT. The benchmark Sensex was 0.01 percent lower at 35,376.28. Pharma stocks were the top percentage gainers on the NSE index, with the Nifty Pharma index rising as much as 1.5 percent to its highest in over a week.
Lupin Ltd and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were up about 2.5 percent each. Still, losses in IT stocks such as Infosys Ltd and Tata Consultancy Services Ltd kept markets from moving into higher ranges.
Metal and energy stocks continued to fall, with Bharat Petroleum Corp Ltd and Hindustan Petroleum Corp Ltd down about 2 percent each.