Indian markets opened flat with a negative bias on Thursday. The BSE Sensex opened at 16,854, while the NSE Nifty opened at 5,109.

At 9.43 a.m., the 30-share BSE index Sensex was down 22.37 points or 0.13 per cent at 16,874.26 and the 50-share NSE index Nifty was down 6.6 points or 0.13 per cent at 5,113.95.

On the global front, Asian stocks fell as the US Federal Reserve cut growth estimates.

A report also showed that China’s manufacturing may shrink for the eighth month in a row. The Hang Seng index was down 0.9 per cent and Shenzhen index was down 1.65 per cent.

However, the European markets closed in the green, up by 0.43 per cent each. These markets were up on hopes that the debt crisis will be solved.