Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on September 21, 2023

U.S. stocks slumped on Wednesday after the U.S. Federal Reserve held key interest rates unchanged as widely expected, and revised economic projections higher with warnings that the battle against inflation was far from over. All three major U.S. stock indexes retreated in the wake of announcement, with interest rate sensitive megacap stocks Microsoft Corp, Apple Inc and Nvidia Corp pulling the Nasdaq down most. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 76.85 points, or 0.22%, to 34,440.88, the S&P 500 lost 41.75 points, or 0.94%, to 4,402.2 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 209.06 points, or 1.53%, to 13,469.13.

Asian stocks followed Wall Street's lead on Thursday, dipping across the board as investors interpreted the U.S. Federal Reserve's latest policy statements as signalling higher-for-longer interest rates. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan was down 0.6%, with the Hong Kong benchmark shedding 0.8%. Japan's Nikkei fell 1%. South Korea’s Kospi was 0.5 percent lower, and the Kosdaq also shed 0.37 percent. .

The Federal Reserve left its benchmark interest rate unchanged Wednesday for the second time in its past three meetings, a sign that it’s moderating its fight against inflation as price pressures have eased. The Fed's policymakers also signaled that they expect to raise rates once more this year and envision their key rate staying higher in 2024. The Fed’s latest decision kept its benchmark rate at about 5.4%, the result of the 11 rate increases it unleashed beginning in March 2022. Those rapid hikes, Powell said, now allow the central bank to take a more measured approach to its rate policy. 

At 8:20 am, the GIFT Nifty was trading 48 points or 0.24 percent lower at 19,857, indicating a negative opening for the Indian markets. 

Benchmark indices Sensex and Nifty tumbled more than 1 percent on Wednesday due to heavy selling in banking and oil stocks in tandem with weak global trends ahead of the US Federal Reserve's interest rate decision. Falling for the second day running, the 30-share BSE Sensex tumbled 796 points or 1.18 percent to settle at 66,800.84. During the day, it tanked 868.7 points or 1.28 percent to 66,728.14. The NSE Nifty declined 231.90 points or 1.15 percent to end below the 20,000 mark at 19,901.40.

Oil prices fell in early Asian trade on Thursday after falling by the most in a month in the previous session on U.S. interest rate hike expectations, and ahead of a steer from other central banks on their rate outlooks. Brent futures for November delivery fell 44 cents, or 0.5%, to $89.18 a barrel by 0010 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude (WTI) CLc1 fell 49 cents, or 0.6%, to $89.17.

The Indian rupee rose on Wednesday as likely dollar sales by the Reserve Bank of India and easing crude oil prices prevented the currency from hitting a record low. The rupee closed at 83.0725 against the US dollar as compared with 83.2675 in the previous session on Monday.

Gold inched slightly higher on Wednesday as investors braced for updated interest rate projections and remarks from Chair Jerome Powell following the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy meeting. Spot gold added 0.24 percent to $1.935.49 per ounce, while US gold futures inched up 0.17 percent to $1,957.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹3,110.69 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) offloaded ₹573.02 crore worth of stocks on September 20, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.