10 things you need to know before the opening bell on September 23
1. Wall Street | US stocks ended higher after the US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged and said the tapering of bond purchases is coming “soon.” The Dow Jones Industrial Average jumped 338.48 points, or 1.00 percent, to 34,258.32 while the S&P 500 gained 0.95 percent, or 41.45 points, to 4,395.64. The Nasdaq Composite added 1.02 percent, or 150.45 points, to 14,896.85.2. Asian markets | Asian shares moved higher on Thursday, supported by some positive news from struggling developer China Evergrande Group, while the dollar held near a one-month top after the US Federal Reserve took a hawkish tilt overnight. The Hong Kong benchmark rose 1.6 percent, boosting MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, which gained 0.64 percent. Elsewhere, Chinese blue chips gained 0.74 percent, Australia’s benchmark rose 1.04 percent, and Korea’s Kospi fell 0.6 percent after returning from a three-day break to catch up with global falls earlier in the week.3. Indian market on Wednesday | The Indian equity benchmark indices ended Wednesday’s volatile session flat amid weakness across Asian markets. The Sensex fell 77.94 points, or 0.13 percent, to 58,927.33, while the Nifty ended 15.35 points, or 0.09 percent lower at 17,546.65. The broader markets outperformed the benchmarks as the Nifty Midcap100 and Smallcap100 indices closed over a percent higher each. Among sectoral indices, Nifty Media rallied the most, over 13 percent, followed by realty, metal, auto and IT indices, while selling was seen in private bank and financial services indices.4. Crude oil | Oil prices settled higher on Wednesday after US crude stocks fell to their lowest levels in three years as refining activity recovered from recent storms. US crude inventories last week fell by 3.5 million barrels to 414 million barrels, the lowest since October 2018, the US Energy Information Administration said on Wednesday. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose $1.74, or 2.5 percent, to $72.23, while Brent crude futures settled up $1.83, or 2.5 percent, to $76.19 a barrel.5. Rupee | The rupee fell by 26 paise to close at 73.87 (provisional) against the US currency on Wednesday, tracking a strong American currency in the overseas markets ahead of the outcome of the US Fed meeting. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the local currency opened at 73.70 and witnessed an intra-day high of 73.66 and a low of 73.93 against the US dollar in day trade.6. Fed signals bond-buying taper coming ‘soon,’ rate hike next year | The Federal Reserve said on Wednesday it will likely begin reducing its monthly bond purchases as soon as November and signalled interest rate increases may follow more quickly than expected as the US central bank’s turn from pandemic crisis policies gains momentum. The Fed on Wednesday kept its benchmark overnight lending rate in the current target range of 0 percent to 0.25 percent, where it has remained since March 2020 when the economy cratered at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.7. China’s Evergrande chairman seeks to reassure investors, shares surge | Indebted property giant China Evergrande will make it a top priority to help wealth investors redeem their products, its chairman said, as investors await a key deadline for a dollar-bond coupon payment on Thursday. Hui Ka Yan said the company was striving to ensure quality delivery of properties and stressed the importance to resume construction on developments where building had been halted. Evergrande shares, which have plunged around 85 percent this year, jumped as much as 32 percent in resumed trade on Thursday after a public holiday, marking their biggest single-day percentage rise since its listing in 2009.8. Big push to infra, education, healthcare needed for sustainable growth: RBI Governor | Reserve Bank Governor Shaktikanta Das on September 22 underlined the need for a big push to infrastructure investment, education and digital economy to achieve sustainable growth and generate jobs in smaller cities. “As we recover (from the pandemic), we must deal with the legacies of the crisis and create conditions for strong, inclusive and sustainable growth. Limiting the damage that the crisis inflicted was just the first step; our endeavour should be to ensure durable and sustainable growth in the post-pandemic future,” Das said.9. India, UAE plan to lift bilateral trade to $100 billion in 5 years via new pact | India and the United Arab Emirates plan to conclude a Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA) by the end of the year with the aim to lift trade between the two countries by 70 percent in five years, trade ministers of both countries said. India’s Trade Minister Piyush Goyal said on Wednesday both countries would also aim to sign an “early harvest” trade deal soon, before concluding the CEPA, which is likely to be implemented by March 2022.10. International travel should be made easier through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates: PM Modi | Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Wednesday that international travel should be made easier through mutual recognition of vaccine certificates, amid several countries adopting different sets of rules to allow foreigners to enter their territory in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In his video remarks at the Global COVID Summit hosted by US President Joe Biden, Modi also said India is ramping up production capacity of existing vaccines and the supply chains of raw materials must be kept open so that vaccine supplies to other countries can be resumed.
