Before Market Opens: From US markets, gold to asian markets; 9 things to know at 9 am on August 30, 2022

US stocks closed lower on Monday, adding to last week's sharp losses on nagging concerns about the Federal Reserve's determination to aggressively hike interest rates to fight inflation even as the economy slows. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 184.41 points, or 0.57 percent, to 32,098.99, the S&P 500 lost 27.05 points, or 0.67 percent, to 4,030.61 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 124.04 points, or 1.02 percent, to 12,017.67.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific were higher on Tuesday after sharp falls to start the week following Fed Chair Jerome Powell’s hawkish speech in Jackson Hole. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.78 percent and the Topix index gained 0.85 percent. The Kospi in South Korea added 0.85 percent and the Kosdaq increased 1.09 percent. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was fractionally higher. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.22 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 70 points or 0.4 percent higher at 17,450, indicating a strong opening for the Indian markets.

Mirroring the trend of its major global peers, domestic market benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended with a significant cut of over a percent on August 29 as investors feared aggressive rate hikes by the US Fed and European Central Bank. Sensex ended 861 points, or 1.46%, lower at 57,972.62. Nifty closed the day at 17,312.90, down 246 points, or 1.40%.

Oil prices fell on Tuesday after notching their highest gains in more than a month in the previous session, as global inflation worries overshadowed the prospect of possible OPEC+ output cuts. Brent crude futures fell 39 cents, or 0.3 percent, to $104.70 a barrel by 0012 GMT after climbing 4.1 percent on Monday. US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $96.79 a barrel, down 21 cents, or 0.2 percent, following a 4.2 percent rise in the previous session.

The dollar touched a fresh 20-year high on Monday, lifted by hawkish comments by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, but was kept in check as the euro was boosted by growing expectations for European Central Bank (ECB) rate hikes. The dollar index , which measures the currency's value against a basket of peers, hit 109.48 early in the session, a level not seen since September 2002. The greenback extended gains from Friday, when Powell told the Jackson Hole central banking conference in Wyoming the Fed would raise rates as high as needed to restrict growth, and keep them there for some time to lower inflation running at more than three times the Fed's 2 percent goal.

The rupee fell 10 paise to close at 79.97 per dollar in the previous session on August 30. The domestic unit weakened amid a fall in the equity market and a rise in the dollar index due to aggressive interest rate hike fears.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth ₹561.22 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth ₹144.08 crore on August 29, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Gold prices inched up in early Asian hours on Tuesday, as the dollar eased off a 20-year high, offsetting pressure from expectations of the US Federal Reserve keeping interest rates higher for longer to combat inflation, reported news agency Reuters.