Nifty continues to struggle below 8150; ICICI Bank, Lupin gain

Moneycontrol Bureau12:55 pm New rule for old currency deposit: The Reserve Bank of India says the deposit of old currency above Rs 5,000 can be made only once per account till December 30.

Credit of over Rs 5,000 will be afforded only after questioning by 2 officials, it says.

These restrictions are not applicable for deposits under taxation regime for Prime Ministery Garib Kalyan Yojana.12:42 pm Buzzing: Tree House Education plunged as much as 20 percent to 52-week low of Rs 19.10 after Zee Learn called off its proposed merger and threatened to take legal recourse to seek damages from the failed deal.

In a regulatory filing on Friday, Zee Learn had said that "in the light of the recent inordinate developments at Tree House, it is withdrawing from the proposed merger process, which has been awaiting various court, shareholder and related statutory approvals".

12:25 pm State elections: Sources told CNBC-TV18 that elections for 5 states may be held between second week of February & March, 2017.Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand & Manipur will go for assembly elections in 2017.Election Commission is likely to announce state poll dates any day after December 20.Also read - Buy, sell, hold: 8 stocks that analysts are watching out12:00 pm Market Check

The NSE Nifty continued to struggle below 8150 level amid rangebound trade. Usually trading volumes in last two weeks of every year are always dull due to overseas investors' Christmas vacation.

The 30-share BSE Sensex was down 70.84 points at 26418.72 and the 50-share NSE Nifty declined 19.00 points to 8120.45.

ICICI Bank extended gains to 1 percent after recouping early losses followed by Reliance Industries. GAIL retained its top position in the buying list, up 2 percent.

Lupin shares rose over a percent after the pharma major launched antifungal drug Voriconazole in world's largest drug maket United States.

Infosys, HDFC, Larsen & Toubro, Asian Paints and TCS were top five contributors to Sensex's fall, down 0.7-1.2 percent.

Asia markets were a mixed bag as Australia gained after it appeared to dodge a possible downgrade for now of its treasured top sovereign rating and Japan fell despite better-than-expected trade data.