REUTERS - Indian shares traded flat on Friday, taking a pause after the U.S. Federal Reserve's decision to stand pat on interest rates sparked a rally in the previous session, but indexes were still headed for a weekly gain.
The Fed decision is sparking hopes of additional foreign investments into emerging markets such as India, with MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan trading at near 14-month highs.
"After the move upwards, it's always good to see markets pause for a while and consolidate, recover and then make a move up," said Gaurang Shah, vice president, Geojit BNP Paribas Financial Services.
The Nifty was up 0.02 percent at8,869.05 as of 0641 GMT after rising 1 percent on Thursday. It had gained 1 percent this week as of Thursday's close.
The Sensex was 0.03 percent lower at 28,763.70.
Financial and consumer stocks were the biggest drag on the NSE index with some sectors witnessing profit-booking.
The Nifty Bank index was down 0.44 percent after Thursday's 1.42 percent rise. Axis Bank was the top percentage loser with a drop of as much as 5.11 percent.
The Nifty FMCG index, which gained 0.26 percent in the previous session, was down 0.28 percent.
Bharat Financial Inclusion Ltd rose as much as 4.01 percent to its highest since Aug. 9, after the micro lender said on Thursday it launched a share sale to institutions to raise up to 7.5 billion rupees ($112.55 million).
Shares of L&T Technology Services Ltd rose as much as 8.3 percent on market debut after the company's $134 million initial public offering.
($1 = 66.6400 rupees)
(Reporting by Tanvi Mehta in Bengaluru; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)
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