Indian shares were little changed on Thursday as gains in software makers following share buyback proposal by Infosys were tempered by selling in autos and bank stocks.
At 0620 GMT, the S&P BSE Sensex edged down 0.04 at 31,757 while the broader NSE Nifty was unchanged at 9,897.
Among the top index gainers: Coal India rose 3.5 percent, Infosys advanced 2.4 percent, Bharti Airtel gained 2 percent while NTPC was up 1.7 percent.
Shares of Infosys rallied after India's second-biggest software services exporter said it will consider a proposal for buyback of its equity shares at its meeting to be held on August 19.
Coal India gained about 4 percent after a huge block deal.
Cigarette stocks gained. VST Industries jumped 3 percent, Godfrey Phillips India advanced 6 percent while ITC rose 1 percent.
Among the laggards, the S&P BSE Auto index fell 0.5 percent, dragged lower by Motherson Sumi, MRF, TVS Motors and Maruti Suzuki India.
Market breadth was in the favour of gainers, with about 2 stocks advancing to every 1 stock that declining.
In Asia, most of the indices gained after investors took heart from the minutes of a U.S. Federal Reserve meeting that showed policymakers wary about weak inflation, indicating that the Fed may slow the pace of rate increases.
Fed policymakers unanimously decided to keep interest rates unchanged at their July 25-26 meeting.
