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

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The market is likely to open flat as trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a muted opening for the broader index in India with a loss of 18 points.

On Wednesday, the BSE Sensex fell 216 points to 62,411, while the Nifty50 slipped 82 points to 18,560 and formed a bearish candlestick pattern on the daily charts, indicating temporary nervousness among bulls.

As per the pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 18,532, followed by 18,499 & 18,446. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 18,639 followed by 18,672 and 18,726.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of important headlines across news platforms which could impact Indian as well as international markets:

US Markets

The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed down on Wednesday after a choppy session on Wall Street, as investors struggled to grasp a clear direction as they weighed how the Federal Reserve's monetary policy tightening might feed through into corporate America.

The S&P 500 lost 7.34 points, or 0.19 percent, to close at 3,933.92 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 56.34 points, or 0.51 percent, to finish at 10,958.55. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was flat, ending on 33,597.92.

Asian Markets

Asian Markets were trading mixed in the early trade on Thursday with Hang Seng up 1 percent and Straits Times up 0.3 percent, while Kospi and Nikkei down nearly a percent each.

SGX Nifty

Trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a flat opening for the broader index in India with a loss of 18 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 18,653 levels on the Singaporean exchange.

Crude Oil

Oil rose after a four-day drop as investors weighed the impact of China’s moves to ease virus curbs against a looming US slowdown.

West Texas Intermediate climbed toward $73 a barrel after plunging more than 11 percent over the previous four sessions as a raft of US banks sounded the alarm on a possible recession. Among the latest, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Jane Fraser flagged countries including the US rolling into recessionary environments.

US Dollar

The U.S. dollar weakened against major currencies on Wednesday amid concerns that rising interest rates could push the U.S. economy into recession, while a loosening of China's COVID restrictions boosted the yuan.

Dharmaj Crop Guard to debut today

Agrochemical company Dharmaj Crop Guard is likely to start trading on December 8 with double-digit gains, given the overall positive sentiment in the equity markets.

The expected listing gains are attributed largely to strong subscription numbers of its initial public offering, better financial performance, and a bullish industry outlook, experts said.

The Rs 251 crore public issue of Ahmedabad-based Dharmaj was subscribed 35.5 times during November 28-30, with qualified institutional buyers and high net worth individuals bidding for 48 times and 52 times their respective allotted quota. Retail investors put in bids for 21.5 times the shares in the portion reserved for them. The price band for the offer was Rs 216-237 per share.

Nomura sees India FY24 GDP growth at 5.1%, RBI cutting repo rate by 75 bps in 2023

India's GDP growth may slow down sharply to 5.1 percent in 2023-24 and force the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to cut the key repo rate by 75 basis points (bps) in the second half of 2023, economists at Nomura have said.

Triveni Engineering promoter likely to sell 7.03% stake via block deal

Sugar firm Triveni Engineering & Industries Ltd's promoter Dhruv Sawhney is likely to sell a 7.03 percent stake, approximately 1.7 crore shares, via block deals on December 8, CNBC Awaaz reported on December 7 citing sources.

The promoter is aiming to sell shares worth Rs 500 crore at Rs 280-Rs 285 per share, which is at around 3 percent discount from its current share price.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth Rs 1,241.87 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 388.85 crore on December 7, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Stocks on F&O ban list on NSE

The National Stock Exchange has retained Punjab National Bank, GNFC, and Indiabulls Housing Finance on its F&O ban list for December 8. 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