Asian stock markets are lower in morning trade as shares in China fall. The Shanghai Composite is off 0.45% while the Hang Seng is down 0.1%. The Nikkei 225 is trading up by 0.27%. Overnight, the US markets closed slightly higher.

Meanwhile, Indian share markets have opened the day marginally higher. BSE Sensex is trading higher by 61 points and NSE Nifty is trading higher by 8 points. S&P BSE Mid Cap is trading up by 0.2% and S&P BSE Small Cap is trading up by 0.3%.

Gains are largely seen in automobile stocks and FMCG stocks. Energy stocks, metal stocks and capital goods stocks witness majority of the selling activity. The rupee is trading at Rs 65.43 against the US$.

As per an article in The Livemint, Bharti Airtel is planning to sell a stake worth about Rs 26.17 billion (US$400 million) in mobile masts operator Bharti Infratel Ltd.

Reportedly, Nettle Infrastructure Investments Ltd is offering to sell an about 3.5% stake in Bharti Infratel in a price range of Rs 400 to Rs 415.5 per share.

As of end-September, Nettle owned 7.7% of Bharti Infratel, while Bharti Airtel owned 50.3% of the tower operator. J.P. Morgan, UBS and Goldman Sachs are handling the share sale.

Bharti Airtel share price opened the trading day up by 1% while Bharti Infratel share price plunged 2.3% in early trade.

In another development, Idea Cellular and Vodafone India they have separately agreed to sell their standalone tower businesses to ATC Telecom Infrastructure Pvt. Ltd for about US$1.2 billion.

The two operators have about 20,000 towers. Vodafone and Idea are in the process of merging operations to create the largest mobile operator in the country. While Idea Cellular would get Rs 40 billion, Vodafone would get Rs 38.5 billion if the tower deal goes through prior to their merger.

If the completion of the sale of the standalone telecom tower businesses precedes the completion of the proposed Idea-Vodafone, Vodafone India will receive US$592 million, while Idea will get US$615 million.