Indian shares ended the session near flat as caution prevailed ahead of expiry of February derivatives contracts tomorrow and the Union Budget to be announced on February 28.

"People are waiting for the big event. Expectations are high and I think the budget will be the trend-setter. But we advise our clients to be cautious," said Suresh Parmar, head, institutional equities at KJMC Capital Markets.

The 30-share BSE index Sensex ended at 29,007.99, up 3.33 points or 0.01 per cent and the 50-share NSE index Nifty closed at 8,767.25, up 5.15 points or 0.06 per cent.

Among BSE sectoral indices, TECk index was up 0.47 per cent, followed by IT 0.45 per cent, FMCG 0.36 per cent and realty 0.35 per cent. On the other hand, healthcare index fell the most by 1.03 per cent, followed by banking 0.76 per cent, capital goods 0.71 per cent and metal 0.51 per cent.

Major Sensex gainers were HDFC 2.43%, Infosys 1.75%, Wipro 1.71%, Bharti Airtel 1.36% and ONGC 0.93%, while the top five losers were Dr Reddy's 2.48%, Tata Steel 2.3%, Sun Pharma 2.00%, Tata Power 1.83% and HUL 1.43%.

Blue-chips recovered from recent falls after Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen hinted that the US central bank would not rush into raising interest rates.

The Fed is preparing to consider interest rate hikes "on a meeting-by-meeting basis'', Yellen told a US congressional committee on Tuesday, a subtle shift of emphasis that helps lay the groundwork for the first US rate hike since 2006.

Meanwhile, overseas investors bought Indian shares worth Rs 697 crore ($112.3 million) on Tuesday, buying shares worth $884.34 million for the fourth straight session.

European shares were steady on Wednesday morning, pausing a recent sharp rally that propelled both Britain’s FTSE 100 and Germany’s DAX to record highs as investors combed through mixed corporate results.

At 0908 GMT, the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares was down 0.03 per cent at 1,543.07 points, retreating from a seven-year high hit on Tuesday.

comment COMMENT NOW