Sensex, Nifty Marginally Lower In Early Trade

(RTTNews) - Indian shares struggled for direction on Friday despite U.S. shares inching to a record high overnight.

The benchmark S&P BSE Sensex was down 50 points at 71,377 in early trade, while the broader NSE Nifty index was down 40 points at 21,678.

Bharti Airtel fell about 2 percent after the Union Cabinet approved auction of telecom spectrum.

Mahindra & Mahindra, BPCL, Hindalco, ONGC and Coal India dropped 2-4 percent.

Paytm slumped 8 percent. Paytm Payments Bank's independent director Manju Agarwal has resigned from the board with immediate effect.

Grasim edged down slightly after posting mixed Q3 results.

LIC gained about half a percent on reporting a 49 percent rise in Q3 profit. Zomato added 1.6 percent on robust Q3 results.