Before Market Opens: From US markets fall to India's GDP; 9 things to know at 9 am on March 1, 2023

Wall Street indices and global equities slid further on Tuesday, and bonds wrapped up a difficult month by holding their elevated yields, as more evidence of stubborn inflation added to expectations that central banks will keep rates high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 0.71% at 32,656.7, the S&P 500 lost 0.30 percent to 3,970.15 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.1 percent to 11,455.54.

Asia-Pacific markets opened lower on Wednesday as investors await a slew of key economic data across the region. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was down 0.5 percent as the country reports its gross domestic product data for the fourth quarter of 2022 and the full year, as well as inflation numbers for January. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 opened 0.11 percent lower, and the Topix was marginally lower as well.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 24 points or 0.14 percent lower at 17,374, indicating a tepid opening for the Indian markets. 

Equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the negative territory for the eighth consecutive session on February 28 amid mixed global cues. On February 28, Sensex fell 326 points, or 0.55 percent, to 58,962.12. Nifty ended at 17,303.95, down 89 points, or 0.51 percent. In the last eight sessions of losses, Sensex has fallen 3.8 percent while the Nifty has come off 4 percent. Investors have lost over ₹10 lakh crore in this period. Sensex and Nifty fell for the third consecutive month. In February, Sensx declined one percent while the Nifty50 dropped two percent because of the poor show of Adani Group stocks. 

Oil prices rose nearly 2 percent on Tuesday, erasing the previous session's losses, as hopes for a strong economic rebound in China offset worries about US interest rate hikes dragging down consumption in the world's biggest economy. Brent crude futures for April , which expired on Tuesday, settled higher by $1.44, or 1.8 percent, at $83.89 a barrel. The more active May contract rose $1.41, or 1.7 percent, to $83.45.

India's gross domestic product (GDP) growth rate fell for the second consecutive quarter in October-December, coming in at 4.4 percent, data released on February 28 by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation showed. At 4.4 percent, the latest quarterly growth number is lower than the 6.3 percent growth that was witnessed in the second quarter of 2022-23, which itself was less than half the 13.2 percent increase posted in April-June 2022 as the GDP growth rate benefitted from a low base in the early part of the year.

The rupee jumped 18 paise to end near 82.67 per dollar in the previous session, Bloomberg data showed. The rupee has been volatile of late due tp sustained capital outflow by foreign investors and weakness in the domestic equity market.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹4,559.21 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth ₹4,609.87 crore on February 28, the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed.

Gold prices edged lower on Wednesday as the dollar ticked up, while investors braced for more US interest rate hikes amid stubbornly high inflation. The dollar index rose 0.1 percent, making bullion more expensive for buyers holding other currencies, reported Reuters.