Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on November 18, 2022

Wall Street's main indices ended modestly lower on Thursday in a choppy session as hawkish comments from a US Federal Reserve official and data showing the labor market remained tight led some investors to worry about more aggressive interest rate hikes. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 7.51 points, or 0.02 percent, to 33,546.32, the S&P 500 lost 12.23 points, or 0.31 percent, to 3,946.56 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 38.70 points, or 0.35 percent, to 11,144.96.

Asian markets were trading on a mixed note in the early session on November 18. The Nikkei 225 was up 0.3 percent or 82.76 points at 28,013 level while Kospi added 0.89 percent, up 21.64 points at 2,464 mark. Hang Seng was however down 1.15 percent and was trading at 18,045, down 210 points.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 53 points or 0.3 percent higher at 18,428, indicating a strong opening for the Indian markets.

BSE Sensex fell 230.12 points or 0.37 percent to end at 61,750.60 while the broader NSE Nifty declined 65.75 points or 0.36 percent to 18,343.90.

Oil prices fell more than 3 percent on Thursday, with demand squeezed by mounting Covid-19 cases in China and fears of more aggressive hikes in US interest rates. Brent crude fell $3.08 to settle at $89.78 a barrel, down 3.3 percent. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude slid $3.95, or 4.6 percent, to settle at $81.64 per barrel.

The Federal Reserve may have to raise its benchmark interest rate much higher than it has previously projected to get inflation under control, James Bullard, who leads the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said Thursday. Bullard's comments raised the prospect that the Fed's rate hikes will make borrowing by consumers and businesses even costlier and further heighten the risk of recession. Wall Street traders registered their concern by sending stock market futures further into the red early Thursday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down about 330 points shortly before trading began.

The rupee fell 38 paise to settle at 81.81 per dollar in the previous session amid weakness in Indian equities. FPIs, however, remained net buyers which seems to have capped the losses for the domestic unit.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net bought shares worth ₹618.37 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net purchased shares worth ₹449.22 crore on November 17, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Spot gold advanced 0.12 percent to $1,765.20 per ounce as of 7:25 am on Friday.