BENGALURU (Reuters) - Indian shares are set to open higher on Thursday, tracking Asian peers, while IT stocks are in focus as Tata Consultancy Services, the country's top software services provider, is due to report its June-quarter earnings later in the day.

The GIFT Nifty was at 24,404.5 points at 8:18 a.m. IST, indicating that the NSE Nifty 50 is likely to open slightly above its closing level of 24,324.45 on Wednesday.

The benchmarks closed about 0.5% lower on Wednesday after they hit record highs at the open.

The markets are seeing profit bookings at record highs, said Siddhartha Khemka, head of retail research at Motilal Oswal Financial Services.

Investors are awaiting catalysts for decisive movements and the upcoming results season could potentially provide some, analysts said.

Tata Consultancy Services will report its first-quarter earnings after the closing bell.

Meanwhile, Asian markets opened higher, with the MSCI Asia ex-Japan index gaining about 1% after Wall Street equities rose overnight following comments from U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. [MKTS/GLOB]

Powell told U.S. lawmakers that "more good data" would build the case for the U.S. central bank to cut interest rates. Fed futures are pricing about a 75% chance of a cut in September.

The U.S. print is due later in the day.

Lower U.S. rates make emerging markets such as India a relatively attractive option for foreign investors.

STOCKS TO WATCH

** Sula Vineyards: Company says June-quarter net revenue rose 9.7% year-on-year.

** IRB Infrastructure Developers: Company's gross toll collection jumps 35% to 5.17 billion rupees in June.

** Mankind Pharma: Hema Cipef (I) sold a 0.46% stake while ICICI Prudential Mutual Fund and Morgan Stanley Asia Singapore bought stakes worth 0.25% and 0.08%.

(Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)