Stock Market Today: Top 10 things to know before the market opens today

US Markets

Wall Street ended lower on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 extending its losing streak to four sessions, as skittish investors fretted over Federal Reserve rate hikes and further talk of a looming recession.

Meta Platforms Inc dragged down markets, with its shares sliding 6.8 percent following reports that European Union regulators have ruled the company should not require users to agree to personalized ads based on their digital activity.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 350.76 points, or 1.03 percent, to close at 33,596.34, the S&P 500 lost 57.58 points, or 1.44 percent, to finish at 3,941.26 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 225.05 points, or 2 percent, to end on 11,014.89.

Asian Markets

Shares in the Asia-Pacific slipped on Wednesday after major U.S. indexes fell more than 1 percent each overnight as recession concerns weigh on markets.

The Nikkei 225 in Japan was down 0.69 percent in early trade and the Topix also fell 0.17 percent. South Korea’s Kospi shed 0.47 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan dipped 0.28 percent. In Australia, the S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.86 percent as the nation’s economy grew by 0.6 percent in the third quarter, missing estimates by Reuters.

SGX Nifty

Trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a negative opening for the broader index in India with a loss of 35 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 18,717 levels on the Singaporean exchange.

RBI likely to hike rates by 35 bps, change stance to 'neutral'

The Reserve Bank of India will raise interest rates by a smaller 35 basis points to 6.25 percent in December, according to economists polled by Reuters who expect another modest move up early next year to curb lingering inflation pressures.

A strong two-thirds majority said it was still too soon for the central bank to take its eye off inflation, which slowed to 6.77 percent in October having stayed above the upper end of the RBI's 2-6 percent tolerance band all year.

Thirty-three, or more than 60 percent, of the 52 economists polled between Nov. 22-30 said the RBI would raise its key repo rate by 35 basis points to 6.25 percent at its December 5-7 policy meeting. Eleven said it would continue hiking by 50 basis points, while another eight respondents said 25 bps.

Fitch expects 25 bps rate hike by RBI today, stay on hold in 2023

The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) may increase the repo rate by 25 basis points on December 7 and then stay on hold in all of 2023, Fitch Ratings has said.

"The RBI has raised rates by a cumulative 190 basis points since the start of the tightening cycle in April 2022, lagging behind the (US) Fed's 350 basis points increases over the same period," Fitch said in the December edition of its Global Economic Outlook report, which was released on December 6.

"We now expect the RBI to increase policy rates to 6.15 percent by December and to then hold this rate throughout 2023."

Sebi relaxes rules for govt for PSU disinvestment

Capital markets regulator Sebi can relax regulatory norms for the central government in relation to strategic disinvestment of public sector undertakings (PSUs), according to a notification.

"The Board (Sebi) may after due consideration of the interest of the investors and the securities market and for the development of the securities market, relax the strict enforcement of any of the requirements of these regulations if an application is made by the Central Government in relation to its strategic disinvestment in a listed entity," Sebi said in a notification made public on Tuesday.

Oil prices slump to pre-Ukraine crisis levels on economic jitters

US oil prices fell in frenzied trading on Tuesday to their lowest settlement levels this year, with Brent finishing below $80 per barrel for the second time in 2022, as investors fled the volatile market in an uncertain economy.

Brent crude futures fell $3.33, or 4 percent, to settle at $79.35 a barrel. WTI crude futures fell $2.68, or 3.5 percent, to settle at $74.25 a barrel, their lowest settlement this year.

Fitch retains India growth forecast at 7% for this fiscal, cuts projections for next 2 yrs

Fitch Ratings on Tuesday retained India's economic growth forecast at 7 percent for the current fiscal, saying India could be one of the fastest-growing emerging markets this year.

It, however, cut the projections for the next two financial years, stating that even though the country is shielded to some extent from global economic shocks but is not impervious to global developments.

Given the stronger-than-expected outturn, Fitch forecasts growth at 7 per cent in the financial year ending March 2023 (FY23). "India is expected to record one of the fastest growth rates among emerging markets in our Fitch20 coverage this year," it said. India is shielded to some extent from global economic shocks given the domestically focused nature of its economy, with consumption and investment making up the bulk of the country's GDP.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net-sold shares worth Rs 635.35 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net-offloaded shares worth Rs 558.67 crore on December 6, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Stocks under F&O ban on NSE

The National Stock Exchange has added Punjab National Bank, and retained GNFC, and Indiabulls Housing Finance, under its F&O ban list for December 7. Securities thus banned under the F&O segment include companies where derivative contracts have crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.

With inputs from Reuters and other agencies