Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on March 14, 2023

Sliding bank shares dragged Wall Street down on Monday with investors worried about contagion from the Silicon Valley Bank collapse, but trade was choppy and the Nasdaq composite actually ended higher as some sectors benefited from hopes the Federal Reserve could ease up on interest rates hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 90.5 points, or 0.28 percent, to 31,819.14, the S&P 500 lost 5.83 points, or 0.15 percent, to 3,855.76 and the Nasdaq Composite added 49.96 points, or 0.45 percent, to 11,188.84.

Asia-Pacific markets tumbled on Tuesday in a volatile session, after sharp losses seen overnight on Wall Street as investors grappled with the fallout of failed banks in the US, including Silicon Valley Bank. In Japan, the Topix led gains and fell 3.2 percent and the Nikkei 225 fell 2.3 percent as shares of Softbank Group fell as much as 3.4 percent to its lowest point since October last year in Asia’s morning trade. South Korea’s Kospi also fell by 2.2 percent. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 slid 1.9 percent, largely led by losses in the banking sector.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 64 points or 0.37 percent higher at 17,243, indicating a positive opening for the Indian markets. 

Domestic equities suffered strong losses on March 13, while the benchmark indices the Sensex and the Nifty extended their losing run into the third consecutive session as investors remained concerned that the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) may have a contagion effect on other banking majors. Sensex closed 897 points, or 1.52 percent, lower at 58,237.85. The Nfty50 closed at 17,154.30, down 259 points, or 1.49 percent.

Oil prices fell over 2 percent in volatile trading on Monday as the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank roiled equities markets and raised fears of a fresh financial crisis, but a recovery in Chinese demand provided support. Brent crude futures settled down $2.01, or 2.4 percent, to $80.77. The global benchmark earlier fell to a session low of $78.34, its lowest price since early January. US West Texas Intermediate crude futures (WTI) dropped $1.88, or 2.5 percent, to $74.80 a barrel. WTI earlier declined to $72.30 a barrel, its lowest price since December.

India's headline retail inflation rate edged down to 6.44 percent in February from January's three-month high of 6.52 percent, data released by the ministry of statistics and programme implementation on March 13 showed. At 6.44 percent, the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation print is in line with consensus estimates. In a Moneycontrol survey, economists expected inflation to ease to 6.4 percent in February. Retail inflation has now been above the Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) medium-term target of 4 percent for 41 months in a row.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹1,546.86 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DII) bought shares worth ₹1,418.58 crore on March 13, the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed.

The rupee pared its initial gains to settle 17 paise down at 82.23 against the US dollar on Monday, tracking losses in the domestic equity market and unabated foreign fund outflow. A fall in crude oil prices and a weaker dollar against major currencies, however, restricted the fall of the Indian currency.

Gold prices held above the key $1,900 per ounce level on Tuesday as expectations of less-aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes after the collapse of two big US regional banks lifted non-yielding bullion's appeal, reported Reuters.