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

Wall Street pushed stocks and Treasury yields down on Wednesday after both had powered higher earlier in the week as investors took in the strength of the economy and hawkish comments from US policymakers. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 448.96 points, or 1.29%, to 34,358.5; the S&P 500 lost 55.41 points, or 1.23%, to 4,456.2; and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 186.21 points, or 1.32%, to 13,922.60.

Chinese shares slipped, following other markets in Asia-Pacific on Thursday, as oil prices jumped around 5% on Wednesday. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index fell 1.08% in early trade. In mainland China, the Shanghai composite declined 0.78% while the Shenzhen component shed 1.166%. The Nikkei 225 in Japan declined 1.4%, shedding some of its 3% jump from Wednesday. The Topix index fell 1.21%.

Indian market traded volatile on March 23 as equity benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the red after trading in the green in the first half of the session. Equity barometer the Sensex opened more than 200 points higher at 58,198.64 but ended 304 points, or 0.53 percent, lower at 57,684.82. In intraday trade, the Sensex swung by 848 points. Nifty ended the day at 17,245.65, down 70 points, or 0.40 percent. Volatility index India VIX climbed 2.81 percent to 24.75.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 54 points or 0.3 percent lower at 17,201, indicating a negative opening for the Indian markets.

Oil futures extended gains on Thursday morning, after sharply rising in the first portion of the week, as traders weighed additional supply disruptions following reports of storm damage at a major export terminal system on the Black Sea. Brent futures were up about $1.06, or 0.9%, to $122.66 a barrel and US West Texas Intermediate futures were up about 79 cents, or 0.7%, to $115.68 a barrel at 0051 GMT. U.S. futures opened the session down slightly.

Gold prices climbed on March 223 as demand for safe-haven metal rose amid rising inflation and ongoing Ukraine war. However, a firmer dollar and high bond yields capped the gains of the yellow metal.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought Indian shares worth ₹481.3 crore on Wednesday, according to provisional exchange data. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold equities worth ₹294.2 crore. That was in contrast to the trend of FII outflows and DII inflows in the past six months.

The Indian currency slipped 12 paise to close at 76.30 per US dollar on March 23. Rupee weakened as the crude oil prices rose above $120 a barrel mark. Besides, weakness in the domestic stock market also weighed on the Indian currency.

Russia-Ukraine war has continued for a month now. Russian President Vladimir Putin had ordered Russian forces to begin military operation against Ukraine on February 24. There is still no clear signs of an end to the war. As per media reports, Russian forces bombed areas of the Ukrainian capital Kyiv on March 23 while US President Joe Biden arrived in Brussels for a series of summit meetings on the war.