10 things you should know before opening bell on April 8

SUMMARY

The stock market in India is likely to make a flat start ahead of Reserve Bank India’s (RBI) policy announcement on Friday. Investors will eye the inflation projection, given the uncertainties caused by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and commodity prices going through the roof. Shares on Wall Street ended marginally higher, giving up early gains. Asian shares were trading flat in morning trade. Here are 10 things you should know before the opening bell on April 8

By CNBCTV18.comApr 8, 2022 8:19:22 AM IST (Published)

Wall Street | US stock indexes edged slightly higher in the overnight session as investors snapped up beaten-down shares, while the US dollar climbed to its highest in nearly two years and the U.S. Treasury 10-year yield touched a three-year high following hawkish Fed signals. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.25 percent, the S&P 500 gained 0.43 percent and the Nasdaq Composite added or 0.06 percent.

Asian Equities | Shares in Asian markets were trading in the red in morning trade with Japan’s Nikkei down 0.16 percent, Shanghai index slipping 0.09 percent and Hong Kong index dropping 0.5 percent at the time of writing.

SGX Nifty | Trends on SGX Nifty, the early indicator for India’s blue-chip index Nifty, was up 0.03 percent at 17,746.80 at 7:43 am. Nifty futures were trading 0.04 percent higher at 17,748.50.

Dalal Street | Indian shares fell for a third straight session on Thursday as hawkish signals from Fed to tackle inflation slammed investor sentiment in the run-up to RBI’s monetary policy decision. The NSE Nifty 50 index declined 0.94 percent to 17,639.55, and the S&P BSE Sensex fell 0.97 percent to 59,034.95.

Rupee | The rupee declined 19 paise to close at 75.95 (provisional) against the US dollar on Thursday.

Crude Oil | Oil prices inched up on Friday but were set to fall around 3 percent for the week after consuming countries agreed to release 240 million barrels of oil from emergency stocks to help offset disrupted Russian supply. Brent crude futures rose 0.1 percent to $100.71 a barrel at 7:09 am, while US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures advanced 0.4 percent to $96.38 a barrel.

Gold | Spot gold was down 0.1 percent at $1,935.70 per ounce on the Commodities Exchange Centre at 9:49 am.

Cryptocurrency | The crypto market witnessed a mixed trend on Friday. While the world's largest crypto Bitcoin was trading 0.2 percent lower at $43,613.42, Ethereum was at $3,251.91, up 0.85 percent at 7:47 am.

RBI Monetary Policy | Reserve Bank of India's policy stance this time will be crucial as inflation, especially in food, has been accelerated by the Ukraine conflict.

Russia-Ukraine crisis | European Union countries have approved new punishing sanctions against Russia, including an EU embargo on coal imports in the wake of evidence of torture and killings emerging from war zones outside Kyiv.