The Indian equity benchmark indices opened marginally lower on Friday dragged by weakness in private banks and financial stocks.

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At 9:15 am, the Sensex opened 0.06 percent, or 29.81 points lower at 49,594.95, while the Nifty50 index opened at 14,583.40, down 6.95 points, or 0.05 percent.

Broader markets outperformed with Nifty Smallcap100 and Nifty Midcap100 indices up over 0.3 percent each.

Among sectoral indices, the Nifty Private Bank, Nifty Financial Services, Nifty Pharma and Nifty IT declined in the early trade while Nifty Auto, Nifty Metal and Nifty FMCG were trading in the green.

On the Nifty, Axis Bank, HDFC, Tech Mahindra, HDFC Bank and Dr Reddy's Laboratories were the top losers while Tata Motors, Bajaj Auto, Hero MotoCorp, Eicher Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra were the top gainers.

HDFC Bank shares declined after Sebi imposed Rs 1 crore penalty on the bank for non-compliance with the interim order. HDFC Bank unilaterally invoked securities pledged by BRH Wealth. Sebi has asked HDFC Bank to deposit Rs 160 crore in a separate escrow account.

Meanwhile, in Asia, shares eased from record highs on Friday as investors took some money off the table after a recent rally that was driven by hopes a massive US economic stimulus plan by incoming President Joe Biden will help temper the COVID-19 impact, a Reuters report said.

MSCI's broadest gauge of Asia Pacific stocks outside of Japan was off 0.2 percent at 722.49 points, a whisker away from its all-time high of 727.31 touched on Thursday.

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