Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on March 6, 2023

Wall Street rallied on Friday to end a volatile week, as US Treasury yields eased and economic data helped investors look past the growing likelihood that the Federal Reserve will have to keep its restrictive policy in place until late in the year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 387.4 points, or 1.17 percent, to 33,390.97, the S&P 500 gained 64.29 points, or 1.61 percent, to 4,045.64 and the Nasdaq Composite added 226.02 points, or 1.97 percent, to 11,689.01.

Asian shares edged up on Monday while bond markets held their breath ahead of an update on the US rate outlook from the world's most powerful central banker, and a jobs report that could decide if the next hike needs to be super-sized. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose 0.8 percent, after bouncing 1.5 percent last week. Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.0 percent to a three-month top, while South Korean stocks added 0.6 percent helped by a softer reading on inflation.

Domestic equity benchmarks ended with solid gains on March 3 as investor sentiment improved after GQG Partners, a US-based asset manager, acquired a significant amount of shares in four Adani Group companies. The Adani-Hindenburg saga has been one of the biggest reasons behind the underperformance of the Indian market recently. Sensex closed with a gain of 900 points, or 1.53 percent, at 59,808.97. The Nifty50 index settled at 17,594.35, up 272 points, or 1.57 percent. 

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 85 points or 0.48 percent higher at 17,717, indicating a positive opening for the Indian markets. 

Oil prices rose by more than $1 a barrel on Friday, recovering from an early slump after Reuters reported that the United Arab Emirates is not planning an exit from the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC). Brent crude futures were up $1.01, or 1.2 percent, to $85.76 a barrel by 1:52 pm EST (1852 GMT). US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures gained $1.38, or 1.8 percent, to $79.54.

China set a modest target for economic growth this year of around 5 percent on Sunday as it kicked off the annual session of its National People's Congress (NPC), which is poised to implement the biggest government shake-up in a decade. The economy gave one of its weakest performances in decades last year, when the gross domestic product (GDP) grew by just 3 percent, squeezed by three years of Covid controls, a crisis in the vast property sector and a crackdown on private enterprise.

The rupee jumped 62 paise to end at 81.97 per dollar in the previous session amid strong gains in the domestic equity market and buying by foreign portfolio investors.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) bought shares worth ₹246.24 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) purchased shares worth ₹2,089.92 crore on March 3, the National Stock Exchange's provisional data showed.

Gold prices ticked lower on Monday as the dollar firmed, with a fresh set of data cementing fears that central banks across the globe would keep raising rates to contain sticky inflation, reported Reuters.