BENGALURU, June 22 Reuters India39;s bluechip Sensex index hit a record high on Thursday, before giving up those gains on concerns of high valuations and as IT stocks dropped after U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell indicated further rate hikes this year.

The 30stock Sensex rose as much as 0.12 to a new record high of 63,601.71 in preopen trade, before reversing gains.

It was last off 0.05 at 63,489.08 as of 1032 a.m. IST, while the 50stocks Nifty 50 0.03 to 18,851.05.

The Nifty is less than 40 points shy of its record, while the broader midcap and smallcap indexes are hovering around recordhigh and 52weekhigh levels, respectively.

The indexes have rallied recently on strong domestic growth data, cooling inflation, foreign inflows and healthy corporate earnings, but the gains have sparked concerns over valuation.

While it is a happy moment that markets are at or near record levels, it is also time for investors to be extra vigilant given the rich premiums and valuations, said Srikanth Subramanian, CEO, Kotak Cherry.

Seven of the 13 major sectoral indexes declined. Financials, which have the biggest weight among all sectors, rose 0.32, helping offset the losses in other sectors.

The biggest of those losses was in IT stocks, which shed 0.6.

The slide in IT firms, which earn a significant share of their revenue from the United States, came after Powell reiterated the possibility of two 25basis point hikes this year.

Wall Street equities fell overnight, and…