Indian equity benchmarks are likely to start Thursday's session on a negative note tracking weakness across global markets, where equities retreated from multi-week highs scaled the previous day. At 8:59 am, Singapore Exchange (SGX) Nifty futures -- an early indicator of the Nifty index -- were down 57 points or 0.3 percent at 17,199, having declined as much as 90 points earlier in the day.  Updates on the Russia-Ukraine war, movement in crude oil rates and COVID infections in China remained on investors' radar.