Before Market Opens: From US inflation data to gold prices; 9 things to know at 9 am on January 13, 2023

A gauge of global stocks climbed on Thursday while longer-dated US Treasury yields and the dollar fell after a reading of consumer prices fed expectations the Federal Reserve may have the leeway to scale back the size of future interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 216.96 points, or 0.64 percent, to 34,189.97, the S&P 500 gained 13.56 points, or 0.34 percent, to 3,983.17 and the Nasdaq Composite added 69.43 points, or 0.64 percent, to 11,001.11.

Asia-Pacific shares were mixed, after the US consumer price index showed inflation cooled in December, raising investors’ hopes that the Federal Reserve can return to slower interest rate hikes. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.76 percent. Japan’s Nikkei 225′s dipped 0.3 percent in its first hour of trade, while the Topix declined fractionally. The Kospi rose 0.92 percent, and the Kosdaq edged up 0.53 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 30 points or 0.2 percent higher at 17,948, indicating a positive opening for the Indian markets. 

Domestic equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the red for the third consecutive session on January 12 as the risk appetite of investors remained low ahead of the release of important US and domestic macroeconomic data. Sensex closed 147 points, or 0.25 percent, lower at 59,958.03 while the Nifty50 closed 38 points, or 0.21 percent, lower at 17,858.20.

India's headline retail inflation rate eased to a one-year low of 5.72 percent in December from 5.88 percent the previous month, data released on January 12 by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation showed. At 5.72 percent, the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation print is below the consensus estimate. This is the third month in a row that CPI inflation has fallen. It is also the second month in a row that it has come in lower than the upper bound of the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) 2-6 percent mandate.

U.S consumer prices fell for the first time in more than 2-1/2 years in December as gasoline and motor vehicles prices declined, offering hope that inflation was now on a sustained downward trend, though the labor market remains tight. The overall CPI fell 0.1 percent from the prior month, with cheaper energy costs fueling the first decline in 2 1/2 years. The measure was up 6.5 percent from a year earlier.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) have net sold shares worth ₹1,662.63 crore, continuing selling for 15th session in a row, but domestic institutional investors (DII) have managed to offset the FII outflow by net buying shares worth ₹2,127.65 crore on January 12, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

The rupee ended 2 paise higher at 81.55 per dollar in the previous session amid weakness in the domestic market. The domestic currency did not see a sharp fall because the US dollar hovered near a seven-month low against a basket of currencies.

Gold prices edged higher on Friday and were on track for a fourth weekly gain, supported by a weaker dollar and expectations of slower interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve after US consumer prices fell for the first time in more than two and a half years in December, reported Reuters.