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

Stock Market News:

The market is expected to open in the green as trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 64 points.

The BSE Sensex rose 274 points to 61,419, while the Nifty50 climbed 84 points to 18,244 and formed bullish candle on the daily charts after taking support at the 18,100 level.

As per the pivot charts, the key support level for the Nifty is placed at 18,167, followed by 18,138 and 18,090. If the index moves up, the key resistance levels to watch out for are 18,262 followed by 18,291 and 18,339.

Stay tuned to Moneycontrol to find out what happens in the currency and equity markets today. We have collated a list of developments that could impact the Indian as well as international markets:

US Markets

US stocks rallied on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 closing at its highest level in 2-1/2 months, as a sales forecast by Best Buy dampened concerns high inflation would lead to a dismal holiday shopping season while a bounce in oil prices helped lift the energy shares.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 397.82 points, or 1.18 percent, to 34,098.1, the S&P 500 gained 53.64 points, or 1.36 percent, to 4,003.58 and the Nasdaq Composite added 149.90 points, or 1.36 percent, to 11,174.41.

Asian Markets

Shares in the Asia-Pacific mostly rose Wednesday after US stocks rose overnight. New Zealand’s central bank delivered a 75 basis point hike, matching expectations in a Reuters poll, and the biggest rate hike ever in the central bank’s history.

In South Korea, the Kospi rose 0.56 percent. Japanese markets are closed for a public holiday.

SGX Nifty

Trends in the SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for the broader index in India with a gain of 64 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 18,352 levels on the Singaporean exchange.

Oil rises 1% as OPEC+ focus on supply cuts outweighs recession concerns

Oil prices rose about 1 percent on Tuesday after top exporter Saudi Arabia said OPEC+ was sticking with output cuts and could take further steps to balance the market.

However, prices pared gains late in the session after Bloomberg reported that the European Union watered down its latest sanctions proposal for a price cap on Russia's oil exports by delaying its full implementation and softening key shipping provisions.

Brent crude rose 91 cents, or 1 percent, to settle at$88.36. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude was up 91 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $80.95.

India among fastest growing economies in Asia amid global slowdown: OECD

India, with a growth rate of 6.6 percent in this financial year, is among the fastest growing economies in Asia amid a global slowdown triggered by a massive energy shock due to the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict, the OECD said on Tuesday.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the Paris-based intergovernmental body that focuses on economic policy reports in its latest Economic Outlook that India is set to be the second-fastest growing economy in the G20 in FY 2022-23 behind Saudi Arabia, despite decelerating global demand and the tightening of monetary policy to manage inflationary pressures.

The GDP growth in the country will slow to 5.7 percent in FY 2023-24 as exports and domestic demand growth moderate, but it would mean it would still be growing more than many other G20 economies including China and Saudi Arabia.

India’s US Treasury Securities holding rose 4.3% on-month to $221.2 billion in August: SEBI Bulletin

India’s holdings of US Treasury Securities increased 4.3% on-month and 1.9% on a year-on-year basis in August to $221.2 billion, according to the Securities and Exchange Board of India’s (SEBI) November Bulletin.

Dealers said that the rise took place because most central banks, including the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), looked at US papers as a safe haven as they are considered to be most liquid and safe.

"When inflation went above the comfort zone in US, most of the bigger economies including India have reduced their holding as it is a double edged sword when FED started increasing the rates at a rapid pace besides currency risk with the fear of MTM losses," said said Venkatakrishnan Srinivasan, Founder and Managing Partner at debt advisory firm Rockfort Fincap.

FII and DII data

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) have net sold shares worth Rs 697.83 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) net bought shares worth Rs 636.39 crore on November 22, as per provisional data available on the NSE.

BOJ's price gauge hits record high in sign of broadening inflation

Japan's weighted median inflation rate, which is closely watched as an indicator on whether price rises are broadening, hit a record 1.1% in October in a sign of heightening inflationary pressure from rising raw material and labour costs. The data will likely keep alive market expectations the Bank of Japan (BOJ) may tweak its ultra-low interest rates if wages pick up in tandem with inflation next year.

The 1.1 percent year-on-year rise in the weighted median inflation was the fastest pace on record and followed a 0.5 percent increase in September, BOJ data showed on Tuesday.

Bank of England projects more than £30 billion of annual QE losses

Britain's government may need to pay the Bank of England more than 30 billion pounds ($36 billion) next year and also in 2024 to cover losses on its quantitative easing (QE) programme, a report released by the central bank on Tuesday showed. The BoE started buying government bonds in 2009 and the size of the QE programme peaked at 895 billion pounds in December 2021, including 20 billion pounds of corporate bonds.

The cost is set to grow rapidly. Last week, Britain's Office for Budget Responsibility, the nation's budget watchdog, forecast that the government would need to pay the BoE £133 billion up until the end of March 2028, wiping out the finance ministry's earlier profits.

South Korean manufacturers' business sentiment at 2-year low

South Korean manufacturers' business sentiment for December dropped to a more than two-year low, a central bank survey showed on Wednesday, amid growing economic uncertainties and persistently high inflation.

The business outlook index for the manufacturing sector fell to 70 for December on a seasonally adjusted basis from 75 for November, according to the Bank of Korea's monthly survey of companies. It was the lowest level since October 2020.

In the survey, manufacturers cited economic uncertainty as the biggest difficulty, accounting for 22.7 percent of total responses, followed by rising raw material prices (18.5 percent) and weak domestic demand (11.4 percent).

With inputs from Reuters and other agencies