Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on January 3, 2023

Wall Street remained closed on Monday to mark New Year's Day.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific traded lower as most of the region kicks off their first trading sessions for the year. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 1.64 percent on its first trading session of 2023. Markets in Japan and New Zealand are closed for public holidays Tuesday. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1.52 percent after shedding about 0.5 percent on Monday – the Kosdaq shed 1.05 percent.

Indian shares closed higher on Monday, the first trading session of 2023, helped by an uptick in metals and financials. The Nifty 50 index closed 0.51% higher at 18,197.45, while the S&P BSE Sensex rose 0.54% to 61,167.79. Most of the major sectoral indexes logged gains, with metals and high-weightage financials rising 2.43% and 0.49%, respectively.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 33 points or 0.2 percent lower at 18,190, indicating a negative opening for the Indian markets. 

Oil prices slid on Monday from their highest levels in a month on a stronger dollar and after the head of the International Monetary Fund warned of a tougher 2023 as major economies experience weakening activity. Brent crude futures dropped 98 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $84.93 a barrel by 0148 GMT while US West Texas Intermediate crude was at $79.49 a barrel, down 77 cents, or 1.0 percent, after the US dollar strengthened. A stronger greenback makes dollar-denominated commodities more expensive for holders of other currencies.

India has raised windfall tax on petroleum, crude oil and aviation turbine fuel, according to a government order dated January 2. It raised windfall tax on crude oil to ₹2,100 ($25.38) per tonne from ₹1,700 ($20.55), effective on Tuesday, the order said. The federal government also raised the export tax on diesel to ₹7.5 per litre from ₹5, while raising the windfall tax on ATF to ₹4.5 per litre from ₹1.5, the document showed.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) net-sold shares worth ₹212.57 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) net-bought shares worth ₹743.35 crore on January 2, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Gold prices firmed in early Asian hours on Tuesday, with the market's attention turning to minutes from the US Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting due this week, reported news agency Reuters.

The rupee slipped one paise to end at 82.75 per dollar in the previous session on January 2 amid outflow by foreign investors. However, gains in the equity market capped the losses for the rupee.