Indian shares were subdued on Thursday as investors, who were hopeful of strong domestic earnings last week, remained largely cautious ahead of key results.
The Nifty 50 closed 0.03% higher at 17,624.45, while the S&P BSE Sensex gained 0.11% at 59,632.35. Both indexes had risen nearly 0.4% in the day, after losing over 1% in the week till Wednesday.
Weakness in information technology (IT) stocks persisted, with the IT index losing 0.2%, and extending declines to over 8% since weak earnings by Tata Consultancy Services Ltd last week.
"Prevailing underperformance of sectors like IT and energy might cap the momentum in the near term," said Ajit Mishra, vice president - technical research at Religare Broking.
Mishra advised investors to remain stock-specific and identified banking, financials, auto and fast moving consumer goods as sectors ideal for long trades.
Analysts added that the underlying short-term trend of equities remained choppy.
"For now, the market is stuck in a narrow range," said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.
"While IT stocks continue to pile on pressure, even FIIs have turned net sellers, adding to overall weakness."
Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have sold Indian equities over the last three sessions, offloading 131.7 million rupees ($1.6 million) on Wednesday.
Among individual stocks, HCLTech Ltd closed marginally lower ahead of its earnings on Thursday, and Reliance Industries Ltd, India's biggest firm by market capitalisation, fell 0.25% ahead of its results on Friday.
Domestic brokerage firm ICICI Securities fell nearly 5% after reporting a slide in net profit for the March quarter, as rising costs dragged earnings.
Online payments firm Paytm rose almost 2% after Motilal Oswal initiated coverage with a "buy" and expected overall core profit breakeven by FY2025.
Enterprise technology solutions provider Mastek Ltd surged over 12% after reporting a strong revenue growth in Q4.
