sensex
A man looks at a screen across a road displaying the Sensex on the facade of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) building in Mumbai, India. REUTERS

Indian shares consolidated gains on Thursday as investors took a breather following a four-day rally in indexes.

Asian shares were a tad firmer, taking their cues from strong U.S. data.

MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was almost flat with Hong Kong and South Korea, as well as mainland China, closed for public holidays.

Wall Street's three major stock indexes hit fresh highs on Wednesday as did MSCI's all-country world stock index.

At 0615 GMT, the S&P BSE Sensex lost 0.08 percent at 31,646 while the broader NSE Nifty dropped 0.1 percent to 9,903.

The Reserve Bank of India kept the repurchase rate—the rate at which the central bank infuses liquidity in the banking system— unchanged at 6 percent on Wednesday.

Among the top Sensex gainers: Mahindra and Mahindra rose 1.6 percent, NPTC added 1.2 percent, Cipla gained 1 percent while Kotak Mahindra Bank advanced 0.7 percent.

Laggards included State Bank of India and ICICI Bank down 1 percent each, Power Grid dropped 0.9 percent while Hero MotoCorp lost 0.8 percent.

Glenmark Pharmaceuticals gained 3 percent on reports that the company may get UK permit renewal for its Baddi unit.

Infosys rose 0.4 percent after a huge block deal.

Shares of Prataap Snacks pared all their gains afte  a strong market debut on Thursday. The snack food company was listed at Rs 1,270, up 35 percent over its issue price of Rs 938 per share on the NSE. But shares plunged about 8 percent later in the session.

Parag Milk Foods gained 2.3 percent after the Reserve Bank of India raised foreign investment limit in the company to 40 percent from 24 percent earlier.

Market breadth was in the favour of gainers, with about 2 stocks advancing to every 1 stock that declined.