Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on September 8, 2022

US stock indexes climbed the most in roughly a month as bond yields eased, with investors shrugging off hawkish remarks made by Federal Reserve officials on Wednesday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 435.98 points, or 1.4 percent, to 31,581.28, the S&P 500 gained 71.68 points, or 1.83 percent, to 3,979.87 and the Nasdaq Composite added 246.99 points, or 2.14 percent, to 11,791.90.

Markets in Asia-Pacific traded higher following Wall Street’s solid rebound rally overnight in the best day since August 10 for all three averages. Investors will also be closely watching Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell’s speech Thursday as markets brace for another 75 basis-point hike later this month. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 was 1.62 percent higher and the Topix was also up 1.6 percent. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 was up 0.41 percent and the Kospi in South Korea was up 0.33 percent.

Weak global cues amid anticipation of sharp rate hikes by the US Fed continued weighing on the market sentiment back home as key indices the Sensex and the Nifty ended in the red for the second consecutive session. Sensex closed 168 points, or 0.28%, lower at 59,028.91 while the Nifty ended with a loss of 31 points, or 0.18%, at 17,624.40.

At 8:20 am, the SGX Nifty was trading 122 points or 0.7 percent higher at 17,753, indicating a gap up opening for the Indian markets.

Oil prices settled sharply lower on Wednesday, slumping below levels seen prior to Russia's invasion of Ukraine as downbeat Chinese trade data fed investor worries about recession risks. Brent crude futures settled down $4.83 to $88 a barrel, falling below $90 a barrel for the first since February 8. The US West Texas Intermediate crude settled down by $4.94, or 5.7 percent, to $81.94, its lowest since January.

The Sept. 1-6 Reuters poll of 40 FX analysts expected the rupee to weaken to 80/$ in a month and remain around there until end-November, despite the Reserve Bank of India's burning through dollar reserves in active defence of the currency since May. Sinking with other emerging currencies against a strong dollar, the rupee has hit rock-bottom multiple times this year and weakened over 7 percent in 2022.

The rupee ended lower in the previous session, but the domestic currency's fall seems to have been capped after some profit booking in the dollar index. The rupee slipped 7 paise to 79.90 per dollar.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-bought shares worth ₹758.37 crore, whereas domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net sold shares worth ₹138.67 crore on September 7, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Gold prices were subdued on Thursday under pressure as the dollar hovered near a recent peak amid a hawkish US Federal Reserve, while cautious investors also awaited the European Central Bank's rate action due later in the day, reported news agency Reuters.