BENGALURU, Jan 4 (Reuters) - India's benchmark indexes opened higher on Thursday after easing from near record highs in the past two sessions, while investors continue to fret over the timing of U.S. rate cuts after the Federal Reserve minutes.

The blue-chip NSE Nifty 50 rose 0.29% to 21,578.70 points, while the S&P BSE Sensex added 0.27% to 71,560.65, as of 9:15 a.m. IST. (Reporting by Bharath Rajeswaran in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza and Sonia Cheema)