Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on August 16, 2022

US stocks rose on Monday with mega-cap growth shares, extending the market's recent rally amid investor optimism the Federal Reserve can achieve a soft landing for the economy. Shares of Apple Inc climbed 0.6 percent, while Microsoft Corp rose 0.5 percent and Tesla Inc jumped 3.1 percent. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 151.39 points, or 0.45 percent, to 33,912.44, the S&P 500 gained 16.99 points, or 0.40 percent, to 4,297.14 and the Nasdaq Composite added 80.87 points, or 0.62 percent, to 13,128.05.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mostly higher on Monday as investors monitored market reaction to Chinese economic data. Mainland China markets were mixed. The Shanghai Composite fell slightly to end the day at 3,276.09 and the Shenzhen Component was up 0.33 percent at 12,460.22. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.45 percent to close at 7,064.3. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan were 0.21% lower. Japan’s Nikkei 225 increased 1.14 percent to 28,871.78 while the Topix index added 0.6 percent to 1,984.96.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 53 points or 0.3 percent higher at 17,838, indicating a strong opening for the Indian markets.

Frontline equity indices the Sensex and the Nifty ended higher on August 12. The gains were led by oil and gas and energy stocks such as ONGC, NTPC and Power Grid. Global cues were also broadly positive. Sensex closed 130 points, or 0.22%, higher at 59,462.78. Mahindra and Sun Pharma ended as the top laggards. Nifty closed 39 points, or 0.22%, higher at 17,698.15.

India's headline retail inflation rate, as measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI), fell to a five-month low of 6.71 percent in July, according to data released on August 12 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. In June, CPI inflation had come in at 7.01 percent. At 6.71 percent, the July CPI inflation figure is in line with the consensus estimate. As per a Moneycontrol poll, CPI inflation was seen falling to 6.7 percent in July.

India's industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), fell to 12.3 percent in June against 19.6 percent in May, the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. The June industrial growth figure is above the consensus estimate. A Moneycontrol poll of 15 economists had predicted IIP growth would fall to 10.6 percent in June. IIP growth in June 2021 was 13.8 percent.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net bought shares worth ₹3,040.46 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth ₹839.45 crore on August 12, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

The rupee rose 12 paise to close at 79.54 in the previous session. Meanwhile, crude oil prices fell further on recession worries after weak economic data from China which is the world's largest crude importer.

Worries over interest rate hikes and the dollar's rise weighed on gold prices. The yellow metal prices slipped in the international market on August 16.