Top 10 things to know before the market opens

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the red as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the index in India with an 120-point loss.

On January 5, the BSE Sensex climbed 367.22 points, or 0.61 percent, to 60,223.15, while the Nifty50 rose 120 points, or 0.67 percent, to 17,925.30 and formed a bullish candle on the daily charts.

According to pivot charts, the key support levels for the Nifty are placed at 17,801.1, followed by 17,677. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,997 and 18,068.8.

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:

Hawkish Fed signals it may have to raise rates sooner to fight inflation

A "very tight" job market and unabated inflation might require the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates sooner than expected and begin reducing its overall asset holdings as a second brake on the economy, U.S. central bank policymakers said in their meeting last month.

In a document released on Wednesday that markets took as decidedly hawkish, the minutes from the Dec. 14-15 policy meeting showed Fed officials uniformly concerned about the pace of price increases that promised to persist, alongside global supply bottlenecks "well into" 2022.

US Markets

US stocks fell sharply on Wednesday with the Nasdaq plunging more than 3% in its biggest one-day percentage drop since February, after U.S. Federal Reserve meeting minutes signaled the central bank may raise interest rates sooner than expected.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 392.54 points, or 1.07%, to 36,407.11, the S&P 500 lost 92.96 points, or 1.94%, to 4,700.58 and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 522.54 points, or 3.34%, to 15,100.17.

Asian Markets

Shares in Asia-Pacific declined in Thursday trade following losses overnight that saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average notching its first decline of 2022.

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 slipped 1.56% as it led losses among the region’s major markets, while the Topix index dipped 1.02%.

SGX Nifty

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the index in India with an 120-point loss. The Nifty futures were trading at 17,853 on the Singaporean Exchange at around 07:35 hours IST.

Growth in China's Dec services accelerates - Caixin PMI

Activity in China's services sector expanded at a faster pace in December amid higher demand and easing inflationary pressure but continuing small-scale COVID-19 outbreaks weighed on the outlook, a private sector survey showed on Thursday.

The Caixin/Markit services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) rose to 53.1 in December from 52.1 in November, remaining above the 50-point mark that separates growth from contraction on a monthly basis.

Oil falls from one-month high on OPEC+ supply plans

Oil prices lost ground on Thursday, easing from their highest levels in more than a month as OPEC+ producers stuck to a plan to boost production and US fuel stockpiles surged amid declining demand.

The global benchmark Brent crude futures fell 87 cents, or 1.08%, to $79.93 a barrel, as of 0154 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures lost 62 cents, or 0.8%, to $77.23 a barrel.

Japan's service sector activity growth eases in December -PMI

Japan's services sector activity expanded at a slower pace in December as growth in new and outstanding business softened and expectations for the 12 months ahead eased to a four-month low.

The final au Jibun Bank Japan Services Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) dropped to a seasonally adjusted 52.1 from the prior month's 53.0, which was the highest reading since August 2019.

Omicron may eat up 40 bps of Q4 GDP growth: ICRA

The third wave of the pandemic, which has seen a massive spike in infections after the more infectious Omicron variant of the coronavirus appeared, is likely to shave 40 bps off the fourth quarter GDP growth that may print in at 4.5-5 percent, warns ICRA Ratings.

Accordingly, ICRA sees the third wave shaving around 40 bps off the March quarter GDP growth, which may print in at 4.5-5 percent going by the early assessment, Nayar told PTI.

Goldman Sachs says bitcoin will compete with gold as "store of value"

Bitcoin will take market share away from gold in 2022 as digital assets become more widely adopted, Goldman Sachs analyst Zach Pandl said in a research note to clients.

Citing bitcoin's $700 billion market capitalization, compared to the around $2.6 trillion worth of gold owned as an investment, Goldman Sachs said that the cryptocurrency currently has a 20 percent share of the "store of value" market.

Bitcoin will "most likely" become a bigger proportion over time, Goldman Sachs said, in a list of 2022 predictions.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 336.83 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net purchased shares worth Rs 1,271.95 crore in the Indian equity market on January 5, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

With inputs from Reuters & other agencies