(Updates with levels at 10:55 p.m. IST)

By Hritam Mukherjee

BENGALURU, May 22 (Reuters) - Indian shares struggled

for direction on Wednesday, as investors avoided large bets due

to uncertainty around the outcome of local general elections and

ahead of the Federal Reserve minutes due later in the day.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 was up 0.19% at 22,571.1

points, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.23% to

74,123.13, as of 10:55 a.m. IST.

Foreign selling pressure and worries about the results of

the national elections have been weighing on investor sentiment

for the last two weeks. The volatility index - a key

gauge for measuring market unease - was hovering around 19-month

highs on Wednesday.

"Markets are displaying their averseness to uncertainty,

which is expected to persist till the outcome of general

elections," Siddharth Oberoi, Founder of Prudent Equity said.

The results of the elections are due on June 4.

Meanwhile, minutes from the Fed's latest policy meeting will

offer clues about the rate cut trajectory in the world's largest

economy.

U.S. rate-sensitive IT stocks added 0.42%. Indian

IT companies earn a bulk of their revenue from U.S. clients.

Reliance Industries, the second-heaviest stock on

the Nifty 50, rose 1.7%. The refiner was among the top gainers

in the energy sector, which rose 0.74% as crude

prices slipped for a third straight session.

Fast moving consumer goods companies, which are

seen as "defensive" bets during volatility, rose 1.38%, with

Hindustan Unilever and Britannia Industries

leading gains on the Nifty 50 index.

Embattled digital payments firm Paytm pared early

losses to trade flat after its fourth-quarter loss widened, hit

by weakness in its payments and financial services business.

More domestically-focused smallcaps shed 0.3%

while midcaps were largely unchanged.