SUMMARY
Indian equity benchmarks Sensex and Nifty50 are likely to start Thursday's session on a negative note following global peers as investor focus globally remained on geopolitical tensions on account of the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Singapore Exchange (SGX) futures - an early indicator of the Nifty50 index - fell as much as 316.5 points or 1.9 percent to 16,779.5 ahead of the opening bell. Check out how global markets, currencies, commodities and cryptocurrencies fared ahead of the opening bell. Here are 10 things you must know:
1 / 10
Wall Street | Major indices ended sharply lower on Wednesday, extending their recent rout as Ukraine declared a state of emergency. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.38 percent to 33,131.76, the S&P 500 fell 1.84 percent to 4,225.5. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.57 percent to 13,037.49.
2 / 10Asian Equities | Shares fell on Thursday as investors continued to watch the escalating situation between Russia and Ukraine. The Shanghai Composite fell 0.32 percent and the Shenzhen component 0.4 percent. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 1.3 percent. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 declined by 0.73 percent.
3 / 10SGX Nifty | Trends on SGX Nifty indicate a gap-down opening for the broader index in India with a loss of 235 points. The Nifty futures were trading around 16,828 levels on the Singaporean exchange.
4 / 10D-Street | Indian equity benchmarks failed to stay in the green on Wednesday due to fag-end selling in auto and select financial stocks, though gains in consumer and PSU banking counters limited the downside. Investor focus globally remained on geopolitical tensions on account of the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
5 / 10Crude Oil | Oil prices steadied on Wednesday, holding below 2014 highs, as US officials indicated escalation between Russia and Ukraine was unlikely to result in sanctions on energy supplies from Russia, one of the world's top oil producers.
6 / 10Rupee | The rupee recovered 21 paise to 74.63 in early trade on Wednesday tracking positive domestic equities as investors continued to keep a watch on the latest developments around Ukraine.
7 / 10Gold Prices | On Thursday, gold prices rose towards a nine-month high hit earlier this week, as investors sought refuge in safe havens after Ukraine declared an emergency and the West imposed more sanctions on Russia for sending troops into eastern Ukraine.
8 / 10Cryptocurrencies | In cryptocurrencies, Bitcoin prices continued to trade lower, below the $37,000 level. Ether, the coin linked to the ethereum blockchain and the second-largest cryptocurrency in terms of market capitalisation, also tanked about 3 percent to $2,568.
9 / 10Russia-Ukraine crisis | The United Nations Security Council scheduled an emergency meeting for Wednesday night at the request of Ukraine, which said it feared an immediate threat of a Russian invasion. While Russian president Vladimir Putin announced a 'military operation' in Ukraine and called on Ukraine military to 'lay down its arms'.
10 / 10NBFCs core financial services solution implementation | RBI on Wednesday asked a certain class of Non-Banking Financial Companies (NBFC) to mandatorily implement 'Core Financial Services Solution (CFSS)' by September 30, 2025, in order to provide a seamless customer interface as well as have a centralised database.
