Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on October 20, 2022

Wall Street closed lower on Wednesday, marking the end of a multi-session rally, and Treasury yields spiked as gloomy data and downbeat corporate outlooks tossed cold water on investor risk appetite. All three major US stock indexes lost ground, while the benchmark Treasury yield shot up to touch a new 14-year high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 99.99 points, or 0.33%, to 30,423.81, the S&P 500 lost 24.82 points, or 0.67%, to 3,695.16 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 91.89 points, or 0.85%, to 10,680.51.

Shares in the Asia-Pacific traded lower on Thursday as economic fears weighed. Nikkei 225 lost 0.98% and the Topix shed 0.56%. The S&P/ASX 200 in Australia declined 0.83%. South Korea’s Kospi dipped 0.78%. The MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.37%.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 136 points or 0.8 percent lower at 17,368, indicating a gap-down opening for the Indian markets.

Frontline indices the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the green for the fourth consecutive session on October 19. However, mixed global cues and the rupee's steep fall against the dollar capped the gains. The rupee fell 66 paise to close at 83.02 per dollar on October 19. Sensex ended 147 points, or 0.25%, higher at 59,107.19 while the Nifty closed the day at 17,512.25, up 25 points, or 0.14%.

Oil prices opened mixed in early Asian trade on Thursday as investors balanced caution over tightening supply against lower demand projections. Brent crude futures for December settlement fell 28 cents, or 0.3%, to $92.13 a barrel by 0010 GMT. US West Texas Intermediate crude for November delivery (WTI), which expires on Thursday, rose 34 cents, or 0.4%, to $85.89 per barrel.

The rupee fell 66 paise to end at a historic low level of 83.02 in the previous session as the dollar remained higher against its peers on the prospects of strong rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. Analysts expect the rupee to remain in the range of 82.70 and 83.50 levels in the near term.

Gold prices remained subdued to the dollar's rise and concerns that the Federal Reserve will persist with sharp rate hikes.

IndusInd Bank posted a 57 percent year-on-year rise in net profit this September quarter. Its net profit was ₹1,805.3 crore in Q2FY23 against ₹1,146.7 crore in Q2FY22. The private lender’s net profit rose 10.6 percent quarter-on-quarter from ₹1,631 crore in Q1FY23. Operating profit has gone up 10% YoY and 3% QoQ to ₹3,554 crore. Its gross NPA as a percentage of its total loan book fell to 2.11 percent in Q2FY23 from 2.77 percent in Q2FY22, and from 2.35 percent in Q1FY23. The value of Gross NPA was ₹5,567 crore in Q2FY23, which was a 10.8 percent YoY fall from ₹6,245 crore in Q2FY22 and a 6.1 percent QoQ fall from ₹5,932.9 crore.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth ₹453.91 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth ₹908.42 crore on October 19, as per provisional data available on the NSE.