Nifty holds 7,500 amid rangebound trade; Infosys up 1.6%

Benchmark share indices continued to trade flat, amid weakness in Asian markets, as gains in index heavyweights Infosys and Reliance Industries helped cap further downside.

At 11:40am, the S&P BSE Sensex was down 8 points at 24,765 and the Nifty50 was down 6 points at 7,531.

In the broader market, the BSE Midcap and Smallcap indices were down 0.1%-0.2% each. Market breadth was marginally weak with 1,200 losers and 1,000 gainers on the BSE.

The Indian rupee was trading lower at 66.39 to the US dollar compared to the previous close of 66.30.

Oil prices were trading slightly lower in Asian trade but continued to hover near their 12-year lows with US crude and Brent crude trading just above $30.60 a barrel.

SECTORS & STOCKS

BSE Power index was the top loser down 0.9% followed by Auto and Capital Goods indices among others.

Reliance Indsutries was up 1.7% ahead of its earnings next week. Brokerages expect the company to report robust earnings on the back of higher gross refining margins.

Infosys was up 1.3%  extending its previous days 5% rally on the BSE, in an otherwise weak market as brokerages are positive on the stock after the company delivered robust numbers for the third quarter ended December 31, 2015 (Q3FY16).

Capital goods shares extended losses amid weak November IIP data. L&T and BHEL were down 1%-1.5% each.

Hindustan Unilever was down 1.3% ahead of its third quarter earnings later today. ITC was down 0.7%.

Oil and gas shares were among the top Sensex losers. ONGC was down 2.2% while Gail (India) eased 3.1%.

Other Sensex losers include, Tata Motors and ICICI Bank among others.

Among other shares,  Idea Cellular gained after the telecom major launched 4G services in Chhatisgarh, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh and Punjab. The stock was up over 1%.

Cadila Healthcare was up nearly 1% after approval from Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB). Cadila Healthcare can now raise up to Rs 5,000 crore of fresh equity from foreign investors through qualified institutional placement route.

Shares of Marksans Pharma tanked 19% to Rs 63 on the BSE on back of heavy volumes. On clarification on news report, Marksans Pharma said that "UK MHRA has conducted a GMP inspection of the company's plant at Goa in the month of November 2015. Pursuant to the inspection, UK MHRA has issued certain observations which company has responded to.