Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on June 24, 2022

Wall Street's main indexes posted solid gains on Thursday, fuelled by strong performance from defensive and tech shares that outweighed declines for economically sensitive groups as worries persisted about a potential recession. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 194.23 points, or 0.64%, to 30,677.36, the S&P 500 gained 35.84 points, or 0.95%, to 3,795.73 and the Nasdaq Composite added 179.11 points, or 1.62%, to 11,232.19.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific region were higher on Friday as investors weigh recession fears. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index jumped 1% in early trade, with the Hang Seng Tech index rising 1.7%. South Korea’s Kospi gained 1.92%, and the Kosdaq advanced 3.81%. In Japan markets, the Nikkei 225 rose 0.66%, while the Topix climbed 0.23%.

Indian indices ended higher on Thursday after a day's pause led by financial, IT and auto counters. BSE Sensex rose by 443.19 points or 0.86 percent to settle at 52,265.72. The NSE Nifty advanced 143.35 points or 0.93 percent to 15,556.65 points.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 74 points or 0.5 percent higher at 15,666 indicating a strong opening for the Indian markets.

Oil prices rose slightly in early Asian trade on Friday as nations seek to address global crude oil and fuel supply tightness. Brent crude futures rose 39 cents, or 0.4%, to $110.44 a barrel at 0012 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 37 cents, or 0.4%, to $104.31 a barrel. OPEC and allied producing countries including Russia will likely stick to a plan for accelerated output increases in August in hopes of easing crude prices and inflation as U.S. President Joe Biden plans to visit Saudi Arabia, sources said.

US-based IT major Accenture announced its results for Q3FY22 on Thursday, June 23, beating revenue expectations for the quarter ending May 31. Accenture reported revenues of $16.2 billion, up 22% year-on-year (YoY). The IT major’s operating income was up 23% at $2.6 billion. For 2022, it now expects revenue growth to be in the range of 25.5-26.5%, as compared to 24-26% previously.

The rupee on Thursday closed at its all-time low of 78.32 against the US dollar as strong American currency and persistent foreign fund outflows weighed on investor sentiments.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold ₹2,319.06 crore worth of shares whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought ₹2,438.31 crore worth of shares on June 23, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Spot gold fell by 0.19 percent at $1,826.30 per ounce, as of 7:10 am on Friday.