Before Market Opens: 9 things to know at 9 am on September 8, 2023

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell on Thursday, with the biggest drag from Apple and a sell-off in chip stocks over concerns about China's iPhone curbs, while a fall in weekly U.S. jobless claims fed worries about interest rates and sticky inflation. The tech-heavy Nasdaq sold off 0.89 percent to end at 13,748.83, while the S&P 500 slipped 0.32 percent to finish at 4,451.14. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 57.54 points, or 0.17 percent, to settle at 34,500.73.

Asia's stockmarkets dipped on Friday, with tech shares tumbling on deepening Sino-U.S. tensions, while the dollar was set to seal its longest winning streak in nine years as investors braced for U.S. interest rates to stay higher for longer. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.2% in early trade and is down 1.4% for the week. Hong Kong markets were closed for the morning due to storms lashing the city. Japan's Nikkei fell 0.8%. 

At 8:20 am, the GIFT Nifty was trading 23 points or 0.12 percent higher at 19,791, indicating a positive opening for the Indian markets. 

Equity benchmark Sensex climbed over 385 points to reclaim the 66,000 mark on Thursday, propelled by robust buying in index majors HDFC Bank, L&T and SBI amid a weak trend in global equities.A decline in crude oil prices in the international market also supported the domestic equities, traders said. Rising for the fifth straight day, the BSE Sensex recovered all the early lost ground and finally closed with a gain of 385.04 points or 0.58 percent at 66,265.56. During the day, it hit a low of 65,672.34 and a high of 66,296.90. The Nifty advanced 116 points or 0.59 percent to settle at 19,727.05.

Oil prices fell for a second session on Friday, weighed down by lingering concerns over slower global demand, but were still headed for a second consecutive weekly gain amid expectations of tightening supplies. 

Despite a drop in benchmark indices during August, there has been a surge in new investors opening demat accounts. August marked the highest number of additions in 19 months. According to data from the Central Depository Service and National Securities Depository, the number of demat accounts opened in August totalled over 31 lakh, marking the highest account opening rate since January 2022, compared to 29.7 lakh additions a month ago and 21 lakh a year ago. The total demat tally crossed 12.66 crore, up 2.51 percent from a month ago and 25.83 percent from a year ago.

Foreign institutional investors (FII) sold shares worth ₹758.55 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DII) bought ₹28.11 crore worth of stocks on September 7, provisional data from the National Stock Exchange (NSE) showed.

The rupee fell for the fourth straight day to settle 10 paise lower at its lifetime low of 83.23 against the US dollar on Thursday amid a firm American currency and foreign capital outflows.

Gold held steady after briefly trimming gains on Thursday as data showed tightness in the US job market, with focus now shifting to a host of Federal Reserve speakers for cues on interest rate hikes. Spot gold was up 0.1 percent to $1,918.49 per ounce by 10:25 a.m. EDT (1425 GMT), after hitting a one-week low on Wednesday.