Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on May 23, 2022

Wall Street ended mixed on Friday after a volatile session that saw Tesla slump and other growth stocks also lose ground. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq logged their seventh straight week of losses, their longest losing streak since the end of the dotcom bubble in 2001. The S&P 500 edged up 0.01 percent to end the session at 3,901.36 points. The Nasdaq declined 0.30 percent to 11,354.62 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.03 percent to 31,261.90 points. For the week, the S&P 500 fell 3.0 percent, the Dow lost 2.9 percent and the Nasdaq declined 3.8 percent.

Asian stocks faced an uncertain start on Monday as persistent inflation fears and the prospect of rising interest rates dogged the global economic outlook, which remains mired in negative sentiment. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was 0.04 percent higher, after US stocks ended the previous session with negligible gains for the day. The index is down 3.6 percent so far this month. In early trade, Australian shares gained 0.2% while Japan's Nikkei stock index was 0.85 percent higher.

While worries over soaring inflation, aggressive rate hikes, slowing growth and geopolitical tensions persisted, the market clocked strong gains on May 20 as investors cheered China's move of cutting a key lending rate to support its economy. Sensex settled with a strong gain of 1534 points, or 2.91 percent, at 54,326.39, with all components in the green. Nifty50 ended the day at 16,266.15, up 457 points or 2.89 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 32 points or 0.2 percent lower at 16,242, indicating a weak opening for the Indian markets.

Oil prices rose in early trade on Monday with the US fuel demand, tight supply and a slightly weaker US dollar supporting the market, as Shanghai prepares to reopen after a two-month lockdown fuelled worries about a sharp slowdown in growth. Brent crude futures rose 82 cents to $113.37 a barrel at 0126 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures climbed 69 cents, or 0.6 percent, to $110.97 a barrel, adding to last week's small gains for both contracts.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold Indian shares worth ₹1,265.41 crore on Friday, according to provisional exchange data. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made net purchases worth ₹2,148.95 crore.

Gold prices touched a more than one-week high on Monday, as an easing dollar supported greenback-priced bullion, although rising US Treasury yields capped gains, reported Reuters.

The rupee ended 18 paise higher at 77.55 per dollar in the previous session on May 20. The rupee has been volatile amid sustained capital outflow by foreign investors and the dollar's rise against its peers. Analysts expect the rupee to trade in the short term.

Centre has decided to cut the excise duty on petrol by ₹8 per litre and on diesel by ₹6 per litre. This will effectively reduce the price of petrol by ₹9.5 per litre and of diesel by ₹7 per litre. Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, while making the announcement on her Twitter handle on May 21, requested the state governments to follow the lead, especially those who didn't announce a reduction last time (November 2021).