10 things to know before the opening bell on December 23

SUMMARY

Indian shares may open flat-to-positive Thursday as global peers traded higher. The Singapore-based SGX Nifty Futures, an early indicator of Nifty50's performance, indicated a flat start as it rose to 17,079, up over 2 points or 0.01 percent, at 7:50 am. Among major pre-market open cues today, crude oil prices are rising, Bitcoin is declining, and Nasdaq closed over 1 percent higher.

By CNBCTV18.comDec 23, 2021 7:59:19 AM IST (Published)

Wall Street: Stocks closed higher on Wall Street lower Wednesday adding to the gains ahead of Christmas holiday. The Dow Jones and the S&P 500 rose 1 percent, each and tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.2 percent.

Asian equities: Asian shares were trading in the green Thursday morning following Wall Street’s overnight rally. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan rose over half a percent. Japan's Nikkei index surged 0.3 percent. Chinese blue chips were up 0.06 percent. Hong Kong’s HSI rose 0.3 percent. South Korea’s Kospi was up 0.4 percent. Elsewhere, Australian shares rose over 0.35 percent.

D-Street: The Indian shares rose over 1 percent Wednesday with Sensex rising 600 points to 56,930. And the Nifty50 index settled at 16,955, up 185 points. Supporting the rally, midcaps surged 2 percent.

Crude oil: Oil prices rallied Wednesday after a larger-than-expected drawdown in the US inventories, shaking off worries of hit to economic activity from Omicron. Brent crude surged half a percent to $75.62 and the US oil up at $73.08.

Gold: Gold futures on MCX Wednesday rose by Rs 100 to Rs 48,000 per 10 grams. Silver futures for delivery in March also rose by over Rs 420 to Rs 62,100 per kilogram. Both precious metals were rising in the international market Thursday, with gold at $1,808 and silver at $22.88 per ounce.

Rupee: The rupee rose for the fifth straight day Wednesday, closing 5 paise higher to 75.54 helped by firm domestic markets. Meanwhile, the dollar index declined 0.04 percent to 96.45.

Bitcoin: Bitcoin declined over half a percent Thursday morning to trade at $48,000 after it tried to retest $50,000 Wednesday. Altcoins were underperforming the coin, as the number two crypto, Ether prices declined over 1 percent to $3,995.

CLSA on rupee: The Indian rupee will be protected against severe depreciation as the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) still holds high levels of foreign exchange reserves, said CLSA, a brokerage and investment group.