BENGALURU, March 7 (Reuters) - Indian shares pared gains after hitting fresh record highs at the open on Thursday, weighed down by Mahindra & Mahindra, while the U.S. Federal Reserve Chair's rate cut assurance triggered a rally in other Asian markets.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 was up 0.07% to 22,490.40 as of 10:12 a.m. IST, while the BSE Sensex added 0.04% to 74,125.84.

Both the indexes rose about 0.2% at the open to hit new record highs for the second straight session.

The Nifty and Sensex are up about 0.5% for the week so far. They are on track to log four straight weeks of gains, the longest weekly winning streak in 2024.

"The shallow retracement alongside elongated rallies signifies inherent strength that makes us reiterate our positive bias on Indian markets," ICICI Securities said.

Seven of the 13 major sectors logged losses. The auto index lost 0.4%, the top sectoral loser, dragged down by a 4% fall in Mahindra & Mahindra.

The automaker said on Wednesday that its large shareholder group entity, Prudential Management and Services Private, plan to sell some stake in the company.

Shares of the company changed hands in about 17 block deals, as of 10:12 a.m. IST, according to LSEG data.

Metals jumped 1.7%, leading sectoral gains, after JP Morgan initiated coverage of the sector with a preference for steelmakers. The brokerage has an "overweight" rating on JSW Steel, Tata Steel and Hindalco Industries. The three stocks gained between 1.2% and 3.5%.

The broader, more domestically-focussed small- and mid-caps gained 0.7% and 0.4%, respectively, outperforming the benchmarks.

Meanwhile, Asian markets advanced on the day after Fed Chair Powell in a congressional testimony said that interest rate cuts can be expected in 2024 and reiterated the possibility of a soft landing for the U.S. economy.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran and Kashish Tandon in Bengaluru; Editing by Janane Venkatraman, Sohini Goswami and Sonia Cheema )