Mumbai, June 12 : The Indian benchmark indices opened flat on Thursday ahead of key retail inflation data, as selling was seen in the auto, IT and PSU Bank sectors in the early trade.

At around 9.28 am, Sensex was trading 69.22 points or 0.08 per cent up at 82,584.36 while the Nifty added 23.65 point or 0.09 per cent at 25,165.05.

Nifty Bank was up 98.65 points or 0.17 per cent at 56,558.40 The Nifty Midcap 100 index was trading at 59,267.75 after dropping 120.40 points or 0.20 per cent. Nifty Smallcap 100 index was at 18,772.35 after declining 26.40 points or 0.14 per cent.

According to analysts, Nifty ended higher yesterday but slipped off its intra-day peak. Technically, yesterday's candle was a doji with a slightly longer upper shadow immediately following the 'upside-gap two crows' pattern so the onus is on bulls to protect 25,029 in the near-term.

"If bears are able to drag the index below the 24,987-25,029 zone, a test of the 24,800-24,863 area will become a high probability event," said Akshay Chinchalkar, Head of Research of Axis Securities.

Meanwhile, in the Sensex pack, Asian Paints, Sun Pharma, Bajaj Finserv, Bharti Airtel, Bajaj Finance, NTPC and HDFC Bank were the top gainers. Whereas, Infosys, Eternal, Tata Motors, Tech Mahindra, HCL Tech, Tata Steel and IndusInd Bank were the top losers.

In the Asian markets, Hong Kong, Bangkok, Jakarta and Japan were trading in red, whereas Seoul and China were trading in green.

In the last trading session, Dow Jones in the US closed at 42,865.77, down 1.10 points, or 0.00 per cent. The S&P 500 ended with a loss of 16.57 points, or 0.27 per cent, at 6,022.24 and the Nasdaq closed at 19,615.88, down 99.11 points, or 0.50 per cent.

The recent flattish trend in the market is likely to continue in the near-term since there are no clear positive triggers that can push the market much higher, said experts.

There are reports of a possible agreement between the US and China. But the Chinese haven't officially confirmed anything.

'Also, US President Donald Trump has declared that he will be sending letters to trade partners in the next two weeks setting universal tariffs. Market participants will be waiting and watching for clarity on this. The tariff crisis is not yet over,' explained Dr VK Vijayakumar, Chief Investment Strategist, Geojit Investments Ltd.

On the institutional front, foreign institutional investors (FIIs) were net sellers as they sold equities worth Rs 446.31 crore on June 11, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) purchased equities worth Rs 1,584.87 crore.

/IANS