BENGALURU, Aug 23 Reuters Indian shares were little changed on Wednesday, as a slide in consumer stocks offset a rise in metals, ahead of the release of the Reserve Bank of India39;s RBI policy meeting minutes and a key global central bankers39; gathering.

The Nifty 50 index was down 0.07 at 19,383.40 at 1016 a.m. IST, while the SP BSE Sensex fell 0.09 to 65,159.74.

Metals climbed 1, on the back of a 2.5 uptick in Hindalco Industries. The metal firm announced a 20billionrupee 241.11 million investment plan to bring new technologies for Indian Railways at the company39;s 64th annual general meeting on Tuesday.

Consumer stocks fell 0.4, dragged by concerns over erratic monsoons in the last few weeks.

The more domestically focussed midcaps and smallcaps gained over 0.5 each.

Midcaps and smallcaps have added over 22 each in 2023 so far, compared with the 7 rise in the Nifty 50.

The sustained interest in midcaps and smallcaps is driven by hopes of strong nearterm returns, strong domestic macroeconomic fundamentals and earnings visibility, three analysts said.

While the Nifty 50 is finding support at the 50day simple moving average of 19,350.59, midcap stocks, especially IT names, look interesting due to attractive valuations, said Anita Gandhi, director at Arihant Capital Markets.

Indian stocks are set for muted gains by the end of 2023, with a correction likely, according to a Reuters poll of equity analysts.

Among individual stocks, Jio Financial Services hit its 5…