Nifty subdued ahead of Infosys results; TCS, L&T Infotech lag

By Chandini Monnappa

(Reuters) - Indian shares were little changed on Friday, as investors awaited technology giant Infosys Ltd's results for clarity after rival Tata Consultancy Services' quarterly margins contracted.

TCS, the country's top software services exporter, kicked off the December-quarter corporate earnings on Thursday by posting a 24.1 percent rise in quarterly profit but missed margin estimates.

"There is a sense of caution among investors, and there is a fairly bearish sentiment out there, but the index is holding its own and not selling off," said Sunil Sharma, chief investment officer with Sanctum Wealth Management, Mumbai.

"This suggests that the market is willing to look past all the bad news and that is typically suggestive of bull market action."

The broader Nifty was down 0.1 percent at10,811.20 as of 0520 GMT, while the benchmark Sensex was 0.11 percent lower at 36,065.05. For the week, however, both the indices were poised to finish higher.

TCS shares were down as much as 2.72 percent and on track for their third straight session of losses.

Shares of Infosys Ltd, scheduled to report quarterly earnings later in the day, were trading 0.38 percent lower.

Losses on the NSE index were driven by TCS, Larsen & Toubro Infotech Ltd and Reliance Industries Ltd

"The large caps in particular are showing resilience. There are fairly positive cues in terms of macros, domestically we should start seeing improvements from corporate banks and PSUs based on lower loan provisioning," Sharma said.

Some Indian state-owned banks will have to wait for about a month before knowing which of them will have lending curbs eased after a Reserve Bank of India panel reviews their December quarter results, an official with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters on Thursday.

The Nifty Finance index was up 0.12 percent, while Nifty PSU bank index was down 0.8 percent.

(Reporting by Chandini Monnappa in Bengaluru; Editing by Rashmi Aich)