Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on December 20, 2022

Wall Street closed lower on Monday for a fourth straight session with Nasdaq leading declines as investors shied away from riskier bets, worried the Federal Reserve's tightening campaign could push the US economy into a recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 162.92 points, or 0.49 percent, to 32,757.54, the S&P 500 lost 34.7 points, or 0.90 percent, to 3,817.66 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 159.38 points, or 1.49 percent, to 10,546.03.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific traded mostly lower as the People’s Bank of China kept its key lending rates steady. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.5 percent, with technology and property stocks leading losses in the region. In mainland China, the Shanghai Composite fell 0.26 percent and Shenzhen Component fell 0.5 percent.The Nikkei 225 in Japan rose 0.3 percent, and the Topix gained 0.38 percent as investors await the Bank of Japan (BOJ)’s monetary policy announcement. Economists expect the BOJ to maintain its ultra-dovish monetary policy stance, according to a Reuters poll.

Snapping their losing run of the last two consecutive sessions, equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty closed with healthy gains on December 19 amid mixed global cues even as investors keep in mind the impact of rate hikes on the worldwide economy. Sensex closed 468 points, or 0.76 percent, higher at 61,806.19 while the Nifty closed at 18,420.45, up 151 points, or 0.83 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 24 points or 0.13 percent lower at 18,463, indicating a tepid opening for the Indian markets. 

Oil prices rose on Monday, as optimism around China relaxing its COVID-19 restrictions outweighed fears of a global recession that would weigh on energy demand. Brent crude gained 76 cents to settle at $79.80 a barrel, while US West Texas Intermediate crude rose 90 cents to $75.19.

India's domestic air traffic rose 11 percent year on year to 116.79 lakh passengers in November, data released by the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on December 19 shows. More people flew in November than in October when 114.07 lakh passengers took to the skies. The air traffic, however, was still lower than pre-COVID levels. In November 2019, domestic airlines flew 129.47 lakh passengers.During the January-November 2022 period, domestic air carriers carried 1,105.10 lakh passengers, up from 726.11 lakh in the year-ago period, an annual growth of 52 percent, the civil aviation regulator said.

The rupee rose 17 paise to close at 82.70 per dollar in the previous session on December 19 amid gains in domestic equity markets. However, foreign capital outflow from the equity market capped the gains for the domestic currency.

Gold prices inched lower on December 20, as a firmer dollar and expectations of more rate hikes from the US Federal Reserve dented the non-yielding bullion's appeal.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-sold shares worth ₹538.10 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net-purchased shares worth ₹687.38 crore on December 19, as per provisional data available on the NSE.