Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on April 19, 2023

The S&P 500 eked out a slim gain on Tuesday after strength in some big technology stocks countered disappointing quarterly reports from Johnson & Johnson and Goldman Sachs as the first-quarter earnings season kicked into gear. The Dow and Nasdaq ended with fractional declines on the day. The S&P 500 ticked higher by 0.09 percent, while the Dow shed 0.03 percent, or 10.55 points. The Nasdaq Composite closed slightly lower by 0.04 percent.

Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was 0.11 percent up in early trading, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 dipped 0.27 percent and the Topix fell 0.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.29 percent, while the Kosdaq was also up 0.12 percent. Atlanta Federal Reserve President Raphael Bostic told CNBC that he sees one more rate hike of 25 basis points, before pausing to see its impact on the economy. This would take the U.S. Federal Funds rate to 5 percent to 5.25 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 8 points or 0.05 percent lower at 17,713, indicating a flat but negative opening for the Indian markets.

Frontline indices the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the negative territory for the second consecutive session on April 18 dragged by losses in shares of select heavyweights including Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and HDFC Bank. Sensex fell 184 points, or 0.31 percent to close at 59,727.01 while the Nifty ended with a loss of 47 points, or 0.26 percent, at 17,660.15.

Oil prices rose in early Asian trade on Wednesday as US crude inventories were seen falling and on strong Chinese economic data, signaling strengthening fuel demand. Brent crude futures gained 7 cents to $84.84 a barrel at 0020 GMT. West Texas Intermediate US crude was up 3 cents to $80.89 a barrel.

The euro rose 0.38 percent to $1.0968 after two consecutive daily declines of more than 0.5 percent, while the dollar index, a measure of the greenback against six major currencies, slid 0.362 percent. The index rose over 1 percent in the last two trading sessions. China’s offshore yuan rose 0.02 percent to $6.8824 per dollar.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹810.60 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth ₹401.66 crore on April 18, National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed.

Gold prices edged higher on Wednesday, helped by a softer US dollar, while traders assessed prospects of the Federal Reserve raising interest rates just once more in May before pausing, reported Reuters. Spot gold was up 0.5 percent at $2,005.41 per ounce, after hitting a two-week low of $1,981.19 in the previous session. U.S. gold futures settled 0.6 percent higher at $2,019.70.

The rupee depreciated 3 paise to close at 82.04 against the US dollar on Tuesday, tracking negative sentiments in the domestic equities market and foreign fund outflows.