Before Market Opens: From recession fears to FIIs, 9 things to know at 9 am on December 19, 2022

US stocks dropped for a third straight session and suffered a second straight week of losses on Friday as fears continued to mount that the Federal Reserve's campaign to arrest inflation would tilt the economy into a recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.85 percent to 32,920.46, the S&P 500 lost 1.11 percent to 3,852.36 and the Nasdaq Composite 0.97 percent to 10,705.41.

Asia-Pacific markets were mixed as investors struggled to shake off recession fears. Stocks on Wall Street marked their second consecutive week of losses for the first time since September as concerns grew over the US Federal Reserve continuing to hike rates. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia was flat after paring earlier losses. In Japan, The Nikkei 225 fell 1 percent and the Topix fell 0.54 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was also flat.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 45 points or 0.25 percent higher at 18,363, indicating a strong opening for the Indian markets. 

Worries over a recession in the US and Europe after rate hikes by a slew of central banks continued keeping the market under pressure on December 16. A broad-based selloff dragged Sensex 461 points, or 0.75 percent, lower to 61,337.81 while the Nifty50 closed at 18,269, down 146 points, or 0.79 percent. Mid and smallcaps underperformed as the BSE Midcap index fell 1.44 percent while the Smallcap index ended 0.96 percent lower.

Oil prices reclaimed ground on Monday after tumbling more than $2 a barrel in the previous session as optimism from China's reopening and oil demand recovery outweighed concerns of a global recession.Brent crude futures rose 72 cents, or 0.9 percent, to $79.76 a barrel by 0103 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $74.89 a barrel, up 60 cents, or 0.8 percent.

Falling exports and commodity prices will also help the country print in a moderate CAD at $24-26 billion in Q3FY23 from a likely high of $31-34 billion in Q2FY23, Icra Ratings said in a report. Merchandise exports remained flat in November with an on-year growth of 0.6 percent. This came in after the first steep contraction of 16.6 percent in October, the first since February 2021. Imports also moderated in November to 5.4 percent but declined by 1.4 percent month-on-month, aided by marginally lower commodity prices.

The rupee ended 11 paise lower at 82.87 per dollar in the previous session on December 16 as the greenback gained amid the chatter on rate hikes while weakness in the equity market and selling by foreign portfolio investors (FPIs) also weighed on the domestic currency.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-sold shares worth ₹1,975.44 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net-purchased shares worth ₹1,542.50 crore on December 16, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Gold prices eased in early Asian hours on December 19, as the market expected more interest rate hikes in the next year by the US Federal Reserve. SPDR Gold Trust, the world's largest gold-backed exchange-traded fund, said its holdings fell 0.4 percent to 910.40 tonnes on December 16, reported Reuters.