Before Market Opens: 9 essential things to know at 9 am on March 19, 2024

Wall Street’s main indexes closed higher on Monday, with megacap growth stocks such as Alphabet and Tesla supporting a rebound in technology-heavy Nasdaq while investors also waited anxiously for the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 75.66 points, or 0.20% , to 38,790.43, the S&P 500 gained 32.33 points, or 0.63%, to 5,149.42 and the Nasdaq Composite gained 130.27 points, or 0.82%, to 16,103.45.

Japanese shares fell on Tuesday along with regional markets, while the yen was steady heading into a pivotal Bank of Japan meeting that could end eight years of negative interest rates and usher in the nation’s first policy tightening since 2007. In a week filled with central bank meetings across the globe, the BOJ takes the spotlight on the day with all signs pointing to the central bank shifting away from its ultra easy monetary policy. Japan’s Nikkei was 0.73% lower. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan fell 0.7%. China stocks fell, with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index down over 1%, while the blue-chip shares eased 0.3%.

On Monday, the Indian stock market indices ended the volatile session higher led by select metals and auto heavyweights. The Sensex gained 104.99 points, or 0.14%, to close at 72,748.42, while the Nifty 50 settled 32.35 points, or 0.15%, higher at 22,055.70.

At 8:15 am, Gift Nifty was trading 77 points or 0.35 percent lower at 22,059, indicating a negative opening for the Indian markets.

Crude oil prices extended gains amid Ukrainian drone attacks on Russian refineries and OPEC supply cuts. Brent crude, the global benchmark, was up 0.06% at $86.94 a barrel after a 1.8% rally on Monday to the highest close since late October. West Texas Intermediate traded 0.06% higher at $82.77.

Tata Sons has offered to sell 2.34 crore shares of IT major Tata Consultancy Services Ltd (TCS) at ₹4,001 per share through block deals to raise $1.1 billion, reported Bloomberg on March 18. The floor price represents a 3.6 percent discount to the last traded price. On March 18, TCS’ shares on BSE closed 1.8 percent lower at ₹4,144.25 while their intraday high was ₹4,254.75. As of December 31, 2023, promoters held a 72.41 percent stake in TCS, of which Tata Sons held 72.38 percent stake, while the rest is held by Tata Investment Corporation. Citigroup and JPMorgan are reportedly the joint bookrunners of the proposed share sale.

Gold prices were flat on Tuesday as investors stayed on the sidelines ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve’s policy meeting this week that could offer further clues on the timing of likely interest rate cuts this year. Spot gold was little changed at $2,160.97 per ounce, as of 0126 GMT. U.S. gold futures were flat at $2,164.40.

Foreign institutional investors (FIIs) net sold shares worth ₹2,051.09 crore, while domestic institutional investors (DIIs) bought ₹2,260.88 crore worth of stocks on March 18, provisional data from the NSE showed.

The Indian rupee closed lower on Monday, pressured by weakness in Asian currencies and dollar purchases by state-run banks. The rupee settled at 82.9050 to the U.S. dollar compared with 82.8775 in the previous session. The local unit traded in an 82.83 to 82.9150 band in Monday’s session.

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Published: 19 Mar 2024, 08:26 AM IST