Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on August 30, 2023

Wall Street ended sharply higher on Tuesday, lifted by Tesla, Nvidia and other megacap growth stocks after a drop in monthly job openings cemented expectations of a pause in interest rate hikes by the U.S. Federal Reserve. The S&P 500 ended 1.45% higher while Nasdaq rose 1.74% and Dow gained 0.85%.

Asian stocks rose as China’s largest banks reportedly prepare to cut interest rates and investors speculate that the Federal Reserve is nearing the end of its tightening campaign. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is on pace for its third straight day of gains, opening 0.61 percent up, while the Topix also extended gains and rose 0.56 percent. South Korea’s Kospi led gains in the region among major indices, advancing 0.81 percent, while the Kosdaq was up 0.98 percent. Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index stood at 18,669, pointing to a stronger open and on pace for its third straight day of gains compared with the HSI’s close of 18,484.03.

At 8:20 am, the GIFT Nifty was trading 24 points or 0.12 percent higher at 19,535, indicating a positive opening for the Indian markets. 

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty closed higher on Tuesday, marking their second straight day of gains as metal and power and select financial shares advanced. Losses in index majors Reliance Industries, ICICI Bank and Airtel, and foreign fund outflows restricted gains, analysts said. Rising for a second straight day, the BSE Sensex rose by 79.22 points or 0.12 percent to settle at 65,075.82, tracking firm global markets. During the day, it jumped 232.43 points or 0.35 percent to 65,229.03. The NSE Nifty gained 36.60 points or 0.19 percent to end at 19,342.65.

Oil prices extended gains on Wednesday after industry data showed a large draw in crude inventories in the U.S., the world's biggest fuel consumer, and as concerns about a hurricane in the Gulf of Mexico kept investors on edge. Brent crude futures for October rose 17 cents, or 0.2%, to $85.66 a barrel by 0133 GMT. The October contract expires on Thursday and the more active November contract was at $85.08 a barrel, up 17 cents.

SoftBank Vision Fund  (SVF Global) is likely to offload 1.17 percent stake it holds in food delivery giant Zomato for ₹940 crore via a block deal. A total of 10 crore shares will be sold by SVF Growth Fund, at a price of ₹94 apiece. Meanwhile, in the trading session on August 29, Zomato's scrip settled at ₹94.65 apiece on the BSE. Kotak Securities will be broker to the deal.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth ₹61.51 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased ₹305.09 crore worth of stocks on August 29, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

Gold climbed to a three-week peak on Tuesday as the dollar and Treasury yields slipped after weaker labour market readings cast doubts over the chances of another rate hike by the Federal Reserve. Spot gold was up 0.9 percent at $1,935.95 per ounce. US gold futures also rose 0.9% to $1,964.20.

The Indian rupee closed lower at ₹82.70 on Tuesday as dollar buying by oil companies and large importers pressured the local unit during the session, wiping out early gains.