Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on February 9, 2023

US stocks ended down on Wednesday, paring most of the previous session's strong gains, with tech-focused shares leading the way lower.Alphabet Inc was the biggest drag on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq. Its shares sank 7.7 percent after its new AI chatbot Bard delivered an incorrect answer in an online advertisement. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 207.68 points, or 0.61%, to 33,949.01, the S&P 500 lost 46.14 points, or 1.11%, to 4,117.86 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 203.27 points, or 1.68%, to 11,910.52.

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific traded lower on Thursday, as investors assessed further risks of more rate hikes to come. A number of Federal Reserve speakers reiterated the central bank is yet to be finished with its hiking cycle, including Fed Governor Christopher Waller. The S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.24 percent. Nikkei 225 fell 0.58 percent, the Topix fell 0.21 percent. In South Korea, the Kospi shed 0.56 percent.

Equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended with healthy gains on February 8 as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) did not throw any negative surprise to the market by lifting policy repo rates on expected lines. Positive global cues, after less hawkish comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell, also underpinned sentiment. Sensex remained in the green throughout the session and ended 378 points, or 0.63 percent, higher at 60,663.79. Nifty50 closed the day at 17,871.70, up 150 points, or 0.85 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 8 points or 0.04 percent higher at 17,898, indicating a muted opening for the Indian markets. 

Oil rose for a third straight day on Wednesday as investors felt more comfortable with risk a day after the Federal Reserve chair's remarks eased concerns about future interest rate hikes. Brent crude settled up $1.40, or 1.7%, to $85.09 a barrel while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude settled up $1.33, or 1.7%, to $78.47.

The Adani Group plans to prepay a $500 million loan due next month to a group of banks as the Indian conglomerate looks to bolster its finances following a short seller attack. Barclays Plc, Standard Chartered Plc and Deutsche Bank AG are among banks that lent Adani $4.5 billion to finance the purchase of Holcim Ltd. cement assets last year. A portion of that loan is due March 9. An Adani spokesperson said the conglomerate had been in talks with banks to refinance that part of the loan but has decided to prepay it. The spokesperson said discussions with the banks have not stalled.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹736.82 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth ₹941.16 crore on February 8, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

The rupee ended 20 paise higher at 82.49 per dollar in the previous session amid gains in the domestic equity market. Meanwhile, the dollar steadied against its peers after the Fed officials said on Wednesday more rate hikes were coming.

Gold prices edged lower on Thursday, as the dollar steadied after US Federal Reserve officials said more interest rate increases were likely to curb inflation, reported Reuters. A stronger dollar is negative for dollar-priced gold as the bullion becomes more expensive for buyers holding other currencies.