The Indian equities benchmark opened on a negative note in early trade as indicated by the Nifty Futures traded on Singapore Exchange. The BSE slipped as much as 113.95 points. At 9:21 am, the BSE Sensex gained marginally, trading at 8.73 points or 0.01 per cent higher to 59,728, whereas the Nifty 50 index was trading 0.45 points at 17,816.