Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on January 6, 2023

Wall Street's main indices lost more than 1 percent on Thursday, with Nasdaq leading the declines, as evidence of a tight labor market eroded hopes that the Federal Reserve could pause its rating hiking cycle anytime soon as it keeps focused on inflation. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 339.69 points, or 1.02 percent, to 32,930.08, the S&P 500 lost 44.87 points, or 1.16 percent, to 3,808.1 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 153.52 points, or 1.47 percent, to 10,305.24.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific traded higher despite the Federal Reserve signaling further rate hikes ahead. A better-than-expected reading of ADP private payrolls report showed that employers added 235,000 jobs in December, showing a strong labor market despite the Fed’s attempt to tame inflation and suggesting there is more room for higher rates.The Nikkei 225 and the Topix in Japan pared its earlier losses to trade marginally higher. South Korea’s Kospi gained 0.37 percent and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.34 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 18 points or 0.1 percent higher at 18,083, indicating a muted opening for the Indian markets. 

Sensex closed 304 points, or 0.50 percent, lower at 60,353.27 while Nifty ended at 17,992.15, down 51 points, or 0.28 percent.

Oil prices rose around 1% on Friday, extending gains from the previous trading session after data showed lower fuel inventories following a winter storm that hit the United States at the year end. Brent crude futures last gained 79 cents, or 1%, to $79.48 a barrel at 0203 GMT, after settling up 85 cents at $78.69 on Thursday. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures were also up 80 cents, or 1.1%, at $74.47 a barrel. They had settled 83 cents higher at $73.67 in the previous session.

The US trade deficit contracted by the most in nearly 14 years in November as slowing domestic demand amid higher borrowing costs depressed imports. The trade deficit decreased 21.0 percent to $61.5 billion, the lowest level since September 2020, the Commerce Department said on Thursday. The percentage decline in the trade gap was the largest since February 2009. Imports tumbled 6.4 percent to $313.4 billion, with goods dropping 7.5 percent to $254.9 billion. Consumer goods imports were the lowest since December 2020.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹1,449.45 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) offloaded shares worth ₹194.09 crore on January 5, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

The rupee rose 25 paise to close at 82.55 per dollar in the previous session after the greenback witnessed some selling. Meanwhile, the dollar held near an almost one-month high on Friday, after upbeat US economic data.

Gold prices pared losses on Thursday after Fed remarks of inflation easing in 2023, after slipping more than 1 percent on reports of a tighter-than-expected US labour market boosting expectations of higher interest rates for longer, reported Reuters.