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 India's benchmark Nifty 50 index is set to open higher on Thursday, after easing from near record highs in the past two sessions as investors continue to fret over the timing of U.S. rate cuts.

India's GIFT Nifty was trading at 21,627.50 as of 8:15 a.m. IST, suggesting the NSE Nifty 50 will open above its close of 21,517.35 points on Wednesday.

"Over the past few weeks, the rally was sharp and swift," said Prashant Tapse, senior vice president of research at Mehta Equities.

The expensive valuations have provided investors an opportunity to book profits, Tapse added.

The Nifty 50 hit an all-time high on Monday, the first session of 2024, but has pulled back about 1% since then. It rose about 20% in 2023, with more than half of the gains coming in the final two months, boosted by elevated bets of a U.S. rate cut in the first half of 2024.

But the minutes of the Federal Reserve's last policy meeting gave no clear-cut clues on the timing of a likely cut even though most officials saw 75 basis points (bps) of cuts this year.

The odds of starting with a 25 bps cut in March fell to 66.5%, from 73.9% a week ago, according to CME's FedWatch tool.

Wall Street equities fell overnight, while Asian markets opened lower. [MKTS/GLOB]

STOCKS TO WATCH:

** Life Insurance Corporation of India: The insurer got tax demands worth 6.68 billion rupees ($80.2 million) from three states.

** Indian Energy Exchange: Its total volumes rose 14.9% year-on-year in December.

** LTIMindtree: The company got a tax demand notice for 2.06 billion rupees. ($1 = 83.2924 Indian rupees)