Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on May 31, 2023

Stocks on Wall Street closed mixed on Tuesday, pressured by worries about U.S. lawmakers opposed to a deal to raise the $31.4 trillion debt ceiling, but supported by another surge in Nvidia shares that briefly lifted the chipmaker into the rare club of companies valued at $1 trillion. Futures tied to the Dow Jones Industrial Average dipped 31 points, or about 0.1 percent. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq 100 futures were each little changed.

Asian stocks fell Wednesday after momentum in US equities faded and Congress considered the debt accord that’s needed to head off a catastrophic default. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 retreated from its 33-year high and slid 1.03 percent in early trade, while the Topix saw a smaller loss of 0.96 percent. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 dropped 0.35 percent, ahead of its inflation numbers for April. South Korea’s Kospi bucked the trend and gained 0.16 percent, and the Kosdaq advanced 0.13 percent.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 72 points or 0.36 percent lower at 18,658, indicating a gap-down opening for the Indian markets. 

Benchmark stock indices Sensex and Nifty maintained their winning streak for the fourth straight day on Tuesday, helped by foreign fund inflows and positive Asian markets. The 30-share BSE Sensex climbed 122.75 points or 0.20 percent to settle at 62,969.13. The NSE Nifty advanced 35.20 points or 0.19 percent to end at 18,633.85.

The union government will release the GDP estimates for the fourth quarter today. Driven by factors like strong agriculture prospects and improved domestic consumption, India's GDP is expected to have grown 5.5% during the January-March 2023 quarter, against the growth of 4.4% during the preceding quarter.

Oil prices fell by more than 4 percent on Tuesday on concerns about whether U.S. Congress will pass the U.S. debt ceiling pact and as mixed messages from major producers clouded the supply outlook ahead of the OPEC+ meeting this weekend. Brent crude futures fell 4.58 percent to $73.54 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was down $4.42 percent, from Friday’s close, to $69.46 a barrel. There was no settlement on Monday because of a U.S. public holiday.

The rupee fell 4 paise to 82.67 against the US dollar on Tuesday as the strength of the American currency in the overseas market weighed on investor sentiments.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) bought shares worth ₹2,085.62 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) sold shares worth ₹438.93 crore on May 30, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange shows.

Gold bounced back from early losses on Tuesday, as the dollar pulled back and Treasury yields slid on wider market optimism about the U.S. debt ceiling deal. Spot gold rose 0.8 percent to $1,958.59, after hitting its lowest since March 17 earlier. U.S. gold futures added 0.7 percent at $1,958.