Stock market today: All you need to know before the opening bell on December 18

GIFT NIFTY traded flat at 7:30 a.m., indicating mixed opening trends. Global market trends also remained mixed, as key benchmark indices in the US closed lower on Tuesday, and Chinese markets traded positively this morning.

US markets

The US markets closed lower across the board, with Dow Jones falling over 260 points the previous day's close. The NASDAQ and S&P500 closed 0.3% lower amid some weakness in tech stocks like Broadcom Nvidia which fell up to 3%. The retail sales data came in stronger than expected, which worried market participants as it could prompt a delayed rate cut in the US economy.

Asian markets

In Asia, Japanese markets traded lower on Wednesday morning, with 0.3% losses. The Japanese Central Bank will meet this week and are likely to hold on to the interest rate hike at the current level, as expected by market participants. Stocks in China and Hong Kong traded in green.

Crude oil

Crude oil prices remained steady on Wednesday morning as industry reports indicated a more-than-expected drop in US inventories. WTI crude traded at $70 per barrel, while Brent crude oil traded above the $73 per barrel mark.

FII and DII data

FIIs resumed their selling with ₹6400 crores of equity selling in Indian markets on Tuesday, which led to over 1% fall in the Indian markets. The DIIs bought a little over ₹2,700 crore against the heavy selling.

Chart check

The key benchmark indices of NIFTY50 and SENSEX took support at 20SMA levels on the daily chart after heavy selling by FIIs led to an over 1% fall in the Indian markets. Today’s closing above will remain crucial to deciding the near-term trend of the markets.