Indian shares were little changed on Friday, as a slide in high-weightage IT stocks offset optimism due to improved sentiment from the increased probability of a rate pause from the U.S. Federal Reserve.

The blue-chip Nifty 50 was down 0.01 per cent at 18,632.90 as of 10:22 a.m., while the benchmark S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.04 per cent to 62,823.02.

Seven of the 13 major sectoral indexes advanced. Realty added 1% after a sharp slide in the previous session while IT fell 0.7 per cent.

Wall Street and Asian equities rose as odds of a rate pause in the Fed's upcoming meeting on June 14 increased to 75 per cent from 66 per cent, after data showed weekly jobless claims hit over a 1-1/2-year high, signalling a cooling economy.

Investors are also awaiting key rate decisions from the European Central Bank and Bank of Japan next week.

India's central bank kept the repo rate at 6.50 per cent for a second straight meeting on Thursday but indicated that monetary conditions will remain tight to bring inflation down to the 4 per cent target.

Despite the profit-booking in interest-rate sensitive stocks after the RBI decision, analysts said the near-term outlook for the benchmark Nifty 50 remained positive.

"Expect Nifty to gradually move towards an all-time high, supported by lower volatility, stable macroeconomic fundamentals and consistent foreign buying," said Siddhartha Khemka, head - retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Among individual stocks, One 97 Communications rose as much as 4.91 per cent to a 10-month high after global brokerage CLSA reiterated "buy".

Aether Industries jumped over 7 per cent to a record high after the specialty chemicals maker signed a license agreement with Saudi Aramco Technologies Company.

On the other hand, shares of Indian Energy Exchange tumbled 15 per cent, after several analysts downgraded the stock, on market coupling concerns.

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