Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on October 13, 2022

US stocks ended a choppy session slightly lower on Wednesday after minutes from the last Federal Reserve meeting showed policymakers agreed they needed to maintain a more restrictive policy stance. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 28.34 points, or 0.1%, to 29,210.85, the S&P 500 lost 11.81 points, or 0.33%, to 3,577.03 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 9.09 points, or 0.09%, to 10,417.10.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific were mixed on Thursday as investors await inflation data from the US. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was 0.3% higher. The Nikkei 225 in Japan was fractionally lower and the Topix was down 0.28%. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.36%. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was just above the flatline.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 68 points or 0.4 percent lower at 17,037, indicating a negative opening for the Indian markets.

Market benchmarks the Sensex and the Nifty snapped a three-day losing run on October 12 amid mixed global cues. Investors now shift focus to September quarter earnings with hopes that the numbers will be healthy enough to sustain the market's current valuation. Sensex rose 479 points, or 0.84%, to end at 57,625.91 while the Nifty closed at 17,123.60, up 140 points, or 0.82%.

Oil prices struggled to find their footing in early Asian trade on Thursday after a weakening global demand outlook depressed the market in the last session. US crude futures fell 7 cents to trade at $87.20 per barrel at 0012 GMT, while Brent crude futures fell 1 cent to trade at $92.44 per barrel.

Headline retail inflation measured by the Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose to 7.41 percent in September from 7.00 percent in August. At 7.41 percent, the September CPI inflation figure was slightly above the consensus estimate. Meanwhile, India's industrial growth, as per the Index of Industrial Production (IIP), slid to an 18-month low of -0.8 percent in August from 2.2 percent in July, data released by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation on October 12 showed. The last time India's industrial production had contracted was in February 2021.

The domestic currency ended a paise higher at 82.31 per dollar in the previous session. Analysts expect the rupee to remain volatile in the near term due to Fed rate hikes, dollar's gains and foreign capital outflow.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth ₹542.36 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth ₹85.32 crore on October 12, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Gold prices were steady on Thursday as market participants refrained from making big moves ahead of key U.S. inflation reading that could influence the size of the Federal Reserve's next interest rate hike, reported news agency Reuters.