Sensex, Nifty sluggish; Reliance, Sun Pharma, L&T gain

Moneycontrol Bureau11:55 am Drug launch: Natco Pharma has launched generic Tamiflu capsules, used for treatment of influenza, in the American market after the final nod from the US health regulator in August this year.

In a filing to BSE, Natco Pharma announced "launch of the first generic equivalent of Tamiflu oral capsules...through its marketing partner Alvogen".

The company's capsules are generic versions of Roche's Tamiflu drug and are in the strengths of 30 mg, 45 mg and 75 mg.

According to IMS Health, Tamiflu oral capsules had US sales of approximately USD 403 million for the 12 months ended December 2015.

11:45 am Breaking: Tata Industries removes Cyrus Mistry as director. Tata Sons says Cyrus Mistry ceases to be chairman of Tata Industries post removal as director as majority of shareholders voted in favour of removing Mistry as director. Tata Industries is a subsidiary of Tata Sons, promotes group's entry into new businesses.

11:30 am Nasscom comments on Trump: US President-elect Donald Trump has raised the rhetoric on H1-B visa once again. He said he would not allow Americans to be replaced by foreign workers. IT stocks were down this morning on the back of this news. Speaking to CNBC-TV18, Nasscom President R Chandrasekhar said that the notion that Indian IT workers replace American workers is mythical. He said all businesses across the world including US are under tremendous pressure to adopt technology. "US is deficient in skill sets and needs to adopt technology to stay efficient. Trump will look at all ramifications from a business perspective," believes Chandrasekhar. Sudin Apte, CEO & Research Director at Offshore Insights concurs with the thought and says that there is no need to press the panic button post Trump's comments. Don't miss: IT stocks slip on visa concerns but analysts unperturbedThe market continues to see selling presure with the Sensex down 144.53 points or 0.5 percent at 26602.65. The Nifty is down 56.80 points or 0.7 percent at 8204.95. About 992 shares have advanced, 1132 shares declined, and 115 shares are unchanged.

ONGC, NTPC, Reliance, Sun Pharma and L&T are top gainers while Asian Paints, Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Infosys and Hero MotoCorp are losers in the Sensex.

Oil prices shot up by 4 percent to their highest level since 2015 early on Monday after OPEC and other producers over the weekend reached their first deal since 2001 to jointly reduce output in order to rein in oversupply and prop up the market.Brent crude futures, the international benchmark for oil prices, soared to USD57.89 per barrel in overnight trading between Sunday and Monday, the highest level since July 2015.