10 things you should know before opening bell on March 22

SUMMARY

Trends on SGX Nifty indicated a flat start for the broader index in India, with a gain of 24 points or 0.18 percent. Among other major pre-market cues, US Wall Street closed lower on Monday, with stocks extending their slide after US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at a more aggressive tightening of monetary policy than previously anticipated while shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Tuesday. Here are 10 things you should know before opening bell on March 22:

By CNBCTV18.comMar 22, 2022 8:18:32 AM IST (Published)

Wall Street | Market closed lower on Monday, with stocks extending their slide after US Fed Chairman Jerome Powell hinted at a more aggressive tightening of monetary policy than previously anticipated, adding to uncertainties regarding the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.58 percent to 34,552.99, the S&P 500 lost 0.04 percent to 4,461.18 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 0.4 percent to 13,838.46.

Asian Equities | Shares in Asia-Pacific rose on Tuesday though shares of China Eastern Airlines in Hong Kong fell after the carrier’s Boeing 737 passenger jet crashed in southern China on Monday. Nikkei 225 jumped 1.56 percent while the Topix index climbed 1.31 percent. Shanghai composite sat fractionally higher while the Shenzhen component dipped 0.449 percent. South Korea’s Kospi advanced 0.7 percent.

SGX Nifty | Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a flat start for the broader index in India, with a gain of 24 points or 0.18 percent. The Nifty futures were trading around 17,182.50 level on the Singaporean Exchange at 7:30 IST.

D-Street | The Indian market ended a percent down on March 21 after making decent gains in the previous week amid mixed global cues and rising crude prices that are fanning fears of inflation. Amid mixed global cues, the market started the week on a positive note but erased all the gains in the initial hours and remained in negative territory throughout the session

Brent Crude | Oil futures extended gains on Tuesday morning on news that some European Union members are considering imposing sanctions on Russian oil and as attacks on Saudi oil facilities sent jitters through the market. Front-month West Texas Intermediate futures were up 1.97 percent to $114.33 a barrel and Brent futures were up 2.26 percent to $118.23 a barrel.

Rupee | The rupee slumped 31 paise to close at 76.15 (provisional) against the US dollar on Monday as rising crude oil prices and a lacklustre trend in domestic equities weighed on investor sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the rupee opened at 76.08 against the American currency, then lost further ground to settle at 76.15, down 31 paise from the previous close.

Gold Prices | Gold prices fell on Tuesday as U.S. Treasury yields hit fresh multi-year highs following Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell's aggressive inflation stance, while safe-haven bullion remained underpinned by an escalation in the Ukraine crisis. Spot gold was down 0.2 percent at $1,931.84 per ounce by 0105 GMT. U.S. gold futures were flat at $1,930.20.

Cryptocurrencies | Major cryptos traded mixed on Monday as Bitcoin, the largest and most popular digital asset traded lower by 0.87 percent, just holding $41,373. Meanwhile, Ethereum was also down, while Ripple, Solana, Terra, Avalanche, Stellar all traded higher. Dogecoin was also down in trade by close to 0.7 percent at $0.120264.

Russia-Ukraine War | Ukraine on Monday rejected Russian calls to surrender the port city of Mariupol, where residents are besieged with little food, water and power and fierce fighting shows little sign of easing. President Volodymyr Zelensky said that Ukraine could not fulfil "Russian ultimatums," claiming Moscow was seeking to "destroy" his country.

US Fed Reserve | Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell on Monday delivered his most muscular message to date on his battle with too-high inflation, saying the central bank must move "expeditiously" to raise rates and possibly "more aggressively" to keep an upward price spiral from getting entrenched.