Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on April 4, 2022

The S&P 500 rose modestly to kick off the second quarter on Friday, as the monthly jobs report indicated a strong labor market and is likely to keep the Federal Reserve on track to maintain its hawkish policy stance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 139.92 points, or 0.4 percent, to 34,818.27, the S&P 500 gained 15.45 points, or 0.34 percent, to 4,545.86 and the Nasdaq Composite added 40.98 points, or 0.29 percent, to 14,261.50.

Asian share markets got off to a cautious start on Monday amid talk of yet more sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine, while bond markets continued to sound the risk of a hard landing for the US economy as short-term yields surged. A holiday on China made for sluggish trading, and MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.1 percent. Japan's Nikkei was flat, while S&P 500 stock futures eased 0.2 percent and Nasdaq futures 0.3 percent.

Strong buying in financial and energy heavyweights, such as HDFC twins, Reliance Industries, SBI, ICICI Bank, Bajaj Finance and NTPC, helped market benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty end the week on a strong note on April 1. Sensex ended 708 points, or 1.21 percent, higher at 59,276.69 while the Nifty50 closed the day at 17,670.45, up 206 points or 1.18 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 29 points or 0.16 percent lower at 17,709, indicating a mildly negative opening for the Indian markets.

Oil settled lower on Friday as members of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to join in the largest-ever U.S. oil reserves release. Both Brent and U.S. crude benchmarks settled down around 13 percent in their biggest weekly falls in two years after US President Joe Biden announced the release on Thursday. Brent crude futures were down 32 cents, or 0.3 percent, at $104.39 a barrel. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell $1.01, or 1 percent, at $99.27.

Gold and silver settled on a weaker note in the international markets in the last trading session on Friday, April 1 amid strong US job data, firm dollar and rising US bond yields.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) net bought Indian shares worth ₹1,909.8 crore on Friday, and domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold equities worth ₹183.8 crore, provisional exchange data showed. That was in contrast to the trend seen in the recent past.

Rupee closed 12 paise higher at 75.79 on April 1. Gains in equity market and easing crude oil prices boosted the domestic currency. Sensex ended 708 points, or 1.21 percent, higher at 59,276.69 while the Nifty50 closed the day at 17,670.45, up 206 points or 1.18 percent on the same day.

The Russia-Ukraine war continues and Ukraine has blamed Russia for carrying out war crimes. Russia has denied the allegations and Moscow requested the United Nations Security Council convene for a discussion on what its defence ministry called a "provocation by Ukrainian radicals" by Kyiv, media reports suggested.