Crude oil breaks $100, Indian indices hover near flat with auto sector hit

Mumbai, September 10 – The Indian equity market showed a near‑flat start on Thursday. By 9:23 a.m., the Sensex was down 36 points (‑0.05%) at 74,727.96, and the Nifty slipped 8.25 points (‑0.01%) to 23,430.00.

Pressure was most evident in the auto and consumer durables groups, which were the leading decliners on the day. Nifty Auto and Nifty Consumer Durables topped the list of losers, followed by declines in manufacturing, pharma, defence, consumption, healthcare, realty, infra and metals.

Positive movers included PSU banks, oil & gas, power, energy, private banks and FMCG, which all posted gains. The Nifty Midcap 100 index fell 114 points (‑0.18%) to 62,479, while the Nifty Smallcap 100 rose slightly by 18 points to 20,055.

Global markets were largely bearish, with declines in Tokyo, Shanghai, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Seoul and Jakarta. In the United States, the Dow closed 0.77% lower and the Nasdaq fell 0.64% on Wednesday.