Top 10 things to know before the market opens today

The Indian stock market is expected to open in the green as trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 72 points.

On March 22, the BSE Sensex soared 697 points, or 1.22 percent, to 57,989, driven by banks, auto, IT, metal stocks and Reliance Industries. The Nifty50 jumped 198 points or 1.16 percent to 17,315.50, the highest level since February 16 this year, and formed a bullish candle on the daily charts.

As per the pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 17,103, followed by 16,891. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 17,431 and 17,547.

Treasury yields marched higher on Tuesday, bringing US stocks with them, as investors digested the increased likelihood of swift interest rate hikes following hawkish comments from the US Federal Reserve. The Nasdaq led Wall Street's main indexes higher, rising nearly 2%, as investors bought the dip in technology stocks, including Apple Inc, Microsoft Corp, Amazon.com Inc, Meta Platforms Inc and Alphabet Inc.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 254.87 points, or 0.74%, to 34,807.86 and the S&P 500 gained 50.63 points, or 1.13%, to 4,511.81.

Shares in Japan led gains in Asia-Pacific during Wednesday morning trade, as investors monitored oil prices and continued to assess the outlook for U.S. Federal Reserve monetary policy.

The Nikkei 225 rose 2.59% as shares of SoftBank Group jumped 8.03%. The Topix index advanced 1.98%.

Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 72 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 17,444 levels on the Singaporean exchange.

Federal Reserve officials are helping shape market expectations for sharper interest-rate hikes to curb the surge in inflation, but have not managed to dispel fears the tightening cycle could blow a hole in the economy and labor market.

"The Fed needs to move aggressively to keep inflation under control," St. Louis Fed President James Bullard told Bloomberg TV on Tuesday, calling for the central bank to raise its benchmark overnight interest rate to 3% this year.

Oil edged lower on Tuesday after it looked unlikely that European Union nations would agree to join the United States in a Russian oil embargo in retaliation for its invasion of Ukraine.

Brent crude fell 14 cents, or 0.2%, to settle at $115.48 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude ended 36 cents, or 0.3%, lower at $111.76. On Monday, both contracts had settled up more than 7% on the potential EU ban.

Bitcoin climbed on Tuesday to its highest in almost three weeks, adding to its gains since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, pulling up smaller digital coins such as ether. Bitcoin climbed as much as 5.6 percent to $43,337, its highest since March 3, and was last up 3.6 percent. Ether, the second largest digital coin, climbed as much as 5.4 percent to its highest since February 17.

The original cryptocurrency has added more than 26 percent since its intra-day low of $34,324 on February 24 when Russia invaded Ukraine. Its recovery has mirrored gains for stocks, albeit it to a stronger degree.

Capital markets regulator SEBI on Tuesday imposed penalties totalling Rs 20 lakh on four entities for indulging in non-genuine trades in illiquid stock options on BSE. In four separate orders, the regulator levied a fine of Rs 5 lakh each on Sanjay Mangal, Ashu Garg, Mandeep Singh and Krishna Ojha.

The orders came after SEBI observed large scale reversal trades in the stock options segment of BSE, leading to creation of artificial volumes. In view of the same, the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) had conducted an investigation into the trading activities of certain entities engaged in illiquid stock options on BSE from April 2014 to September 2015.

The Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) on March 22 said it has sought a clarification from One 97 Communications Ltd, the parent firm of payments solution company Paytm, over the sharp fall in its share prices.

"Exchange has sought clarification from One 97 Communications Ltd on March 22, 2022 with reference to significant movement in price, in order to ensure that investors have latest relevant information about the company and to inform the market so that the interest of the investors is safeguarded," BSE said, adding that "the reply is awaited".

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net bought shares worth Rs 384.48 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 602.05 crore on March 22, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

Five stocks - Balrampur Chini Mills, Delta Corp, GNFC, Indiabulls Housing Finance and Sun TV Network - are under the F&O ban for March 23. Securities in the ban period under the F&O segment include companies in which the security has crossed 95 percent of the market-wide position limit.