Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on June 7, 2022

US stocks ended a choppy session slightly higher on Monday, helped by gains in Amazon.com and other mega-cap growth shares, while persistent worries over inflation and interest rates kept a lid on the market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 16.08 points, or 0.05%, to 32,915.78, the S&P 500 gained 12.89 points, or 0.31%, to 4,121.43 and the Nasdaq Composite added 48.64 points, or 0.4%, to 12,061.37. Twitter Inc shares slipped 1.5% after billionaire Elon Musk said he might walk away from his buyout offer if the social media company fails to provide data on spam and fake accounts.

Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Friday morning trade as investors await the Reserve Bank of Australia’s latest interest rate decision. The Nikkei 225 in Japan held close to the flatline in early trade, while the Topix index edged 0.3% higher. In South Korea, the Kospi slipped 0.74%. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 declined fractionally.

Indian equity benchmarks finished a volatile session in the red on Monday — a second straight day of fall — as losses in IT stocks offset gains in metal stocks and a fag-end rebound in select financial shares. The Sensex fell 93.9 points or 0.2 percent to end at 55,675.3, even as it recovered 379.6 points from the lowest level of the day. The Nifty50 settled at 16,569.6, down 14.8 points or 0.1 percent from its previous close.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 26 points or 0.16 percent lower at 16,463, indicating a weak opening for the Indian markets.

Oil prices settled slightly lower after choppy trade on Monday, buoyed by Saudi Arabia raising its July crude prices but amid doubts that a higher output target for OPEC+ oil producers would ease tight supply. Brent crude fell 21 cents, or 0.2 percent, to settle at $119.51 a barrel after touching an intraday high of $121.95. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures fell 37 cents, or 0.3 percent, to settle at $118.50 a barrel after hitting a three-month high of $120.99. The benchmark fell by $1 earlier in the session.

The rupee ended flat at 77.63 in the previous session on June 7. The dollar rose againt its global peers as concerns over inflation pushed up US bond yields.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold ₹2,397.65 crore worth of shares, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) remained net buyers, to the tune of ₹1,940 crore worth of shares on June 6, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Gold prices extended losses for a third straight session on Tuesday, as expectations of interest rate hikes in the United States and Europe dulled bullion's demand, reported Reuters.

China's services activity contracted for a third straight month in May, pointing to a slow recovery ahead despite the easing of some COVID lockdowns in Shanghai and neighbouring cities, a private business survey showed on Monday. The Caixin services purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose to 41.4 in May from 36.2 in April, edging up slightly as authorities began to roll back some of the strict restrictions that have paralysed the financial city of Shanghai and roiled global supply chains.