Indian shares were mostly muted on Thursday as investors booked profits after the benchmarks hit record highs this week, and as financial and pharmaceutical stocks dragged.

The NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.12% at 23,544.55, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.09% to 77,407.50, as of 11:10 a.m. IST. Both the indexes opened 0.3% higher.

The benchmarks have gained more than 4% so far in June and the Nifty 50 has logged record closing highs in four of the last five sessions.

"The benchmark Nifty 50 is facing profit-taking pressure at higher levels," Shrikant Chouhan, head of equity research at Kotak Securities said.

He expects the trend to continue in the near term, given the high valuations.

Pharma stocks dropped 0.7%, dragged by heavyweight Sun Pharma, which slipped about 2%, after its Dadra facility received a warning letter from the U.S. drug regulator. Sun Pharma was the top Nifty 50 loser.

HDFC Life Insurance, and heavy-weights Bajaj Finance and Bajaj Finserv also weighed on the Nifty 50 index, falling about 1% each.

The private bank index rose 0.6%, after Macquarie said it preferred them, given stable asset quality outlook and attractive valuations.

Kotak Mahindra Bank and City Union Bank rose 2% and 5.3%, respectively, after Macquarie upgraded the lenders to "outperform" from "neutral". Kotak was the top Nifty 50 gainer.

Metals gained 2%, after top consumer China reiterated it will stick to a supportive monetary stance, boosting sentiment.

Brigade Enterprises rose 4% after signing a $18 million deal. The stock was the top gainer on the realty index , which rose 1.25%.

Uno Minda and C.E. Info Systems rose 6% and 10%, respectively, after Goldman Sachs initiated coverage with "buy" rating. (Reporting by Kashish Tandon and Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman and Mrigank Dhaniwala )