Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on February 7, 2023

US stocks ended lower on Monday as investors shifted gears after considering the possibility that the Federal Reserve may take longer to start cutting interest rates. Traders are keeping a close eye on speeches by Fed officials this week, including Chair Jerome Powell on Tuesday, for any change in the central bank's rhetoric after data last week showed services activity was strong in January as well as strong job growth. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 35.85 points, or 0.11 percent, at 33,890.16, the S&P 500 lost 25.44 points, or 0.62 percent, to 4,111.04 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 119.51 points, or 1 percent, to 11,887.45.

Stocks in the Asia-Pacific were set to trade mixed on Tuesday, after Wall Street extended losses as investors digested last week’s economic data that showed there’s more room for the Federal Reserve to hike rates further. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.1 percent as investors await Reserve Bank of Australia’s rate decision. The Nikkei 225 gained 0.34 percent and the Topix rose 0.31 percent. The Kospi in South Korea was up 0.27 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 80 points or 0.45 percent higher at 17,841, indicating a strong opening for the Indian markets. 

Domestic equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended lower on February 6, tracking weak global cues. Renewed fears over a prolonged spell of Fed rate hikes hit markets across the globe after surprisingly strong US jobs data. Meanwhile, the meeting of the domestic central bank's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) is underway. The RBI MPC is expected to announce a 25 bps hike in repo rates on February 8. However, the market will be keen to spot hints on the pause of hikes.Sensex closed 335 points, or 0.55 percent, lower at 60,506.90; Nifty50 ended with a loss of 89 points, or 0.50 percent, at 17,764.60.

Oil prices edged higher in choppy trading on Monday as markets weighed a return in demand from China against supply concerns and fears of slower growth in major economies curbing consumption. Brent futures for April delivery rose $1.05, or 1.3 percent, to $80.99 a barrel, after trading between $79.10 and $81.25. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) gained 72 cents, or 1 percent, to $74.11 per barrel, after hitting a high of $74.41 and a low of $72.25.

Tata Steel has reported a surprise consolidated net loss of ₹2,223.84 crore for the quarter ended December 2022, against a profit of ₹9,572.67 crore in the same quarter last year. The steelmaker in an exchange filing said its revenue from operations fell 6.08 percent year on year (YoY) to ₹57,083.56 crore from ₹60,783.11 crore. According to a poll of brokerage firms conducted by Moneycontrol, the company's net profit was expected to tank 88 percent YoY and 24.3 percent QoQ to ₹1,146 crore in the quarter under review.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹1,218.14 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth ₹1,203.09 crore on February 6, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

The rupee plunged 90 paise to close at 82.73 per dollar as the greenback clocked strong gains after robust macroeconomic data in the US which raised expectations of a longer spell of rate hikes than earlier expected.

Gold prices edged up on Tuesday, helped by a slight pullback in the dollar, with investors eyeing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's speech later in the day to gauge the US central bank's monetary policy path, reported Reuters.