Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on May 30, 2022

Wall Street closed sharply higher on Friday as signs of peaking inflation and consumer resilience sent investors into the long holiday weekend with growing optimism that the Federal Reserve will be able to tighten the monetary policy without tipping the economy into recession. All three major US indices brought a decisive end to their longest weekly losing streaks in decades. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 575.77 points, or 1.76 percent, to 33,212.96, the S&P 500 gained 100.4 points, or 2.47 percent, to 4,158.24 and the Nasdaq Composite added 390.48 points, or 3.33 percent, to 12,131.13.

Asian stocks followed Wall Street higher on Monday, while the dollar was pinned near five-week lows as investors wagered on an eventual slowdown in the US monetary tightening, albeit after sharp hikes in June and July. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged up 0.3 percent to a three-week high. Japan's Nikkei climbed 1.3 percent and South Korea rose 0.9 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 153 points or 0.9 percent higher at 16,491, indicating a gap-up opening for the Indian markets.

Equity markets extended their rally on Friday, with the Sensex and Nifty jumping over 1 percent each, in tandem with a positive trend in global equities. Buying in Infosys and banking counters helped markets maintain their winning run. The 30-share BSE Sensex rallied 632.13 points or 1.17 percent to settle at 54,884.66. The broader NSE Nifty jumped 182.30 points or 1.13 percent to end at 16,352.45.

Oil prices rose to two-month highs on Monday as traders waited to see if the European Union would reach an agreement on banning Russian oil ahead of a meeting on a sixth package of sanctions against Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine. Brent crude futures gained 46 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $119.89 a barrel at 0111 GMT, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures jumped 60 cents, or 0.5 percent, to $115.67 a barrel, extending solid gains from last week.

India's economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic likely stumbled again in the first quarter of this year primarily due to Omicron-related restrictions and higher inflation, a Reuters poll showed. Growth in Asia's third-largest economy was pencilled in at 4 percent for the January-March quarter from the same period a year ago in a May 23-26 Reuters poll of 46 economists, down from 5.4 percent in Q4 2021. If realised, that would be the slowest in a year, and a third consecutive quarter of weaker growth.

The rupee ended flat at 77.57 per dollar in the previous session on May 27. As per the fresh media reports, the dollar traded lower on Monday and headed for its first monthly drop in five months.

Gold prices slipped on Monday, but the dollar's weakness supported the yellow metal. Gold prices were also supported by downbeat US economic data released last week. Spot gold was down 0.2% at $1,849.37 per ounce, as of 0044 GMT. US gold futures were down 0.2% at $1,848.50.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) net sold Indian shares worth ₹1,943.10 crore on Friday, according to provisional exchange data. However, domestic institutional investors (DIIs) made net purchases worth ₹2,727.47 crore.