Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on August 25, 2023

The three major U.S. stock indexes ended down more than 1% each on Thursday, led by a drop in the Nasdaq after this week's sharp gains and as investors were nervous ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 373.56 points, or 1.08%, to 34,099.42, the S&P 500 lost 59.7 points, or 1.35%, to 4,376.31 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 257.06 points, or 1.87%, to 13,463.97.

Asia-Pacific markets fell across the board as investors prepared for signals on U.S. monetary policy from central bankers’ comments at the Jackson Hole meeting on Friday, including a speech by US Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell. Japan’s Nikkei 225 tumbled 1.69 percent on its open, while the Topix was down 0.9 percent, while South Korea’s fell 1.04 percent and the Kosdaq shed 0.8 percent In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 also opened lower, dropping 1.19 percent. Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 18,053, pointing to a weaker open compared to the HSI’s close of 18,212.17.

At 8:20 am, the GIFT Nifty was trading 16 points or 0.09 percent lower at 19,276, indicating a negative opening for the Indian markets. 

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed lower on Thursday after three days of gains dragged mainly by selling in index majors Reliance Industries and HDFC Bank. The BSE Sensex pared early gains to settle 180.96 points or 0.28 percent lower at 65,252.34. During the day, it hit a high of 65,913.77 and a low of 65,181.94. The NSE Nifty declined 57.30 points or 0.29 percent to settle at 19,386.70 as 35 of its stocks declined while 16 advanced.

Oil prices fell slightly in early Asian trade on Friday, on track for a weekly decline as weak manufacturing activity hurt the global demand outlook and the dollar remained buoyant. Brent crude fell 16 cents, or 0.2%, to $83.20 a barrel by 0013 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude fell 18 cents, or 0.2%, to $78.91 a barrel. Crude prices are set to fall between 2%-3% for the week, a second consecutive week of decline.

Paytm promoter Antfin is likely to sell 3.6 percent stake or 2.3 crore shares of fintech company Paytm via block deal on August 25, reported Bloomberg. The floor price for the deal is likely to be at a discount of ₹880.10 per share. Paytm shares on August 24 closed 0.15 percent lower at ₹904.20 apiece on BSE. Earlier on August 7, the company informed the exchanges that Vijay Shekhar Sharma, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of One 97 Communications Limited and Antfin have entered into an agreement where Sharma will purchase a 10.3 percent stake in Paytm.

The rupee appreciated by 14 paise to settle at 82.58 against the US dollar on Thursday, marking its third straight day of gains on the back of softening crude oil prices and foreign funds inflows.

Gold inched lower on Thursday after data pointing to a tight U.S. labour market pushed the dollar and yields higher but held a tight range as traders positioned for interest rate guidance from central bankers at Jackson Hole. Spot gold was down 0.02 percent at $1,913.99 per ounce by 9:30am EDT (1330 GMT), easing slightly off its highest level since August 10 hit earlier in the session. U.S. gold futures fell 0.3 percent to $1,941.60.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth ₹1,524.87 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased ₹5,796.61 crore worth of stocks on August 24, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.