Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on November 24, 2022

Wall Street's main indexes ended Wednesday with solid gains after the Federal Reserve's November meeting minutes showed interest rate hikes may slow soon. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 95.96 points, or 0.28%, to 34,194.06, the S&P 500 gained 23.68 points, or 0.59%, at 4,027.26 and the Nasdaq Composite added 110.91 points, or 0.99%, at 11,285.32.

Markets in the Asia-Pacific traded higher as the US Federal Reserve said they expect to switch to smaller rate hikes soon, according to minutes released on Wednesday. The Bank of Korea opted for a smaller 25 basis point hike, widely in line with expectations. The Kospi rose 0.56%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia rose 0.35% after stocks on Wall Street rose mildly following the Fed minutes release. The Nikkei 225 rose 1.34% and the Topix also traded 1.29% higher.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 86 points or 0.47 percent higher at 18,340, indicating a strong opening for the Indian markets.

Extending gains into the second consecutive session, domestic equity market benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty ended slightly higher on November 23. Sensex closed 92 points, or 0.15%, up at 61,510.58 while the Nifty ended with a gain of 23 points, or 0.13%, at 18,267.25. The BSE Midcap index rose 0.20% while the Smallcap index ended 0.54% higher.

Oil prices fell more than 3% on Wednesday, continuing a streak of volatile trading, as the Group of Seven (G7) nations considered a price cap on Russian oil above the current market level and as gasoline inventories in the United States built by more than what analysts expected. Brent futures for January delivery fell $2.95, or 3.3%, to settle at $85.41 a barrel. US crude fell $3.01, or 3.7%, to $77.94 per barrel. In early trade, both contracts had risen by over $1 a barrel.

A substantial majority of policymakers at the Federal Reserve's meeting early this month agreed it would likely soon be appropriate to slow the pace of interest rate hikes as debate broadened over the implications of the U.S. central bank's rapid tightening of monetary policy, according to the minutes from the session.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth ₹789.86 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth ₹413.75 crore on November 23, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Gold prices firmed above the key $1,750 an ounce level on Thursday, consolidating gains after minutes of the US Federal Reserve's latest policy meeting signalled slower interest rate hikes, reported news agency Reuters.

The rupee fell 18 paise to end at 81.85 per dollar in the previous session as the greenback rose ahead of the minutes of November Fed meet.