Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on January 17, 2023

Stock futures were down slightly Monday night as investors attempted to keep building on early 2023 momentum and looked ahead to more corporate earnings. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 14 points, or just under the flatline. S&P 500 futures dropped 0.1%, while Nasdaq-100 futures slid 0.2%. All three of the major indexes are up coming off a positive first two weeks of trading in the new year. The Nasdaq Composite is leading the way up 5.9%, as investors bought beat-up technology shares amid rising hopes of an improving landscape for growth stocks. The S&P 500 and Dow have advanced 4.2% and 3.5%, respectively, since the start of the year.

Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed Tuesday. The Nikkei rose 1.05%, leading gains in the region, and the Topix gained 0.73%. As the Bank of Japan kicks off its two-day monetary policy meeting, 10-year Japanese government bond yields will be in focus as it continues to test the upper ceiling of the central bank’s tolerance range.

China reported GDP growth for 2022 that beat expectations as December retail sales came in far better than projected.GDP grew by 3% in 2022, the National Bureau of Statistics said Tuesday. That was better than the 2.8% forecast in a Reuters poll. The GDP growth number did miss the official target of around 5.5% set in March. In 2021, China’s growth had rebounded by 8.4 percent from just 2.2% growth in 2020.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 5 points or 0.03 percent lower at 17,939, indicating a flat opening for the Indian markets. 

Indian shares ended lower on January 16 as the risk appetite of investors remained low on softer quarterly earnings even though global cues were mostly positive. Profit booking was seen in most sectors, however, PSU bank and IT stocks witnessed buying. Sensex closed 168 points, or 0.28 percent, lower at 60,092.97 and Nifty ended 62 points, or 0.34 percent, down at 17,894.85.

Bank of India, ICICI Lombard General Insurance Company, ICICI Prudential Life Insurance Company, Delta Corp, Eris Lifesciences, Hathway Cable & Datacom, Mastek, Metro Brands, Network18 Media & Investments, TV18 Broadcast, Newgen Software Technologies, Shalby, Tata Investment Corporation, and Tata Metaliks will be in focus ahead of quarterly earnings on January 17.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) sold shares worth ₹750.59 crore, continuing selling for the 17th consecutive session, but domestic institutional investors (DIIs) managed to offset the FII outflow, to a major extent, by net buying shares worth ₹685.96 crore on January 16, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

The rupee fell 28 paise to close at 81.61 per dollar in the previous session after the dollar index bounced from a seven-month low. Weakness in domestic equity market and outflow of foreign funds also weighed on the local currency.

Gold prices held steady above the key $1,900 per ounce level during early Asian hours on Tuesday, buoyed by hopes of slower interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve, reported Reuters.