Asian markets gained during early deals today after US shares snapped a two-day losing streak. This was noticed as investors weighed the evidence of a slowing US economy with mixed Federal Reserve commentary from its latest meeting.  Equity benchmarks in Australia and South Korea surged less than 1%, while Japanese stocks fluctuated in the morning session.

Gold prices remained steady today, hovering close to a nearly seven-month high scaled in the previous session. Investors are prepared for U.S. jobs data that could influence the Federal Reserve's policy trajectory. As of 0042 GMT, spot gold held its ground at $1,854.89 per ounce. The bullion metal's prices gained as much as 1.4% to their highest level since June 13, touched in the prior session.

Following the closure of bidding for Sah Polymers Limited's IPO, investors are now closely waiting for the allotment date, which is most likely on 9th January 2022. The maiden issue worth ₹66.30 crores was subscribed 17.46 times, whereas its retail portion was subscribed 39.78 times. Market observers suggest that shares of Sah Polymers are commanding a premium of ₹5 in the grey market today.

📌Wall Street main indices closed higher yesterday, with the Dow Jones gaining 0.4% and the S&P 500 surging 0.75%. 📌Most Asian markets were trading on a positive note today. In Japan, the Nikkei 225 gained 0.35% in its first hour of trade. 📌SGX Nifty indicate a positive opening for Indian markets with a gain of 47 points. 📌Citi trims India's current account gap forecast to 2.9% of GDP.

✅HUL: It completed the acquisition of 19.8% shareholding of Nutritionalab for Rs 70 cr. ✅IRB Infrastructure: The firm's Board nodded to the sub-division of 1 equity share of Rs 10 each into 10 equity shares of Re 1 each. ✅NDTV: Investor LTS Investment Fund has further offloaded 2.38% stake in NDTV. ✅Marico: The FMCG player's consolidated revenue in Q3FY23 grew in low single digits on a YoY basis.

Qualcomm Technologies launched a processor chip for the car called Snapdragon Ride Flex SoC that handles both assisted driving and cockpit functions, including entertainment. The Mobile chip manufacturer's head of automotive Nakul Duggal stated that previously those functions were handled on different chips, and merging them can help bring down costs.

📢 Vaishali Parekh, Vice President — Technical Research at Prabhudas Lilladher, feels that Nifty suggested a bearish candle on the daily chart is weakening the bias and market sentiments. The analysts recommended two stocks to buy for today: ✅Maruti: Buy at ₹8422, target ₹8640, stop loss ₹8300; and ✅Divi's Lab: Buy at ₹3435, target ₹3550, stop loss ₹3370.

Mukesh Ambani is determined to focus his attention on the Indian conglomerate’s pivot to green energy. The 65-year-old will take charge of strategy like developing the gigafactories and blue hydrogen facilities and considering acquisition targets. In 2022, Ambani unveiled plans to invest $75 billion on clean energy projects over the next 15 years.

Crude oil prices gained today after tanking about 9% over the first two sessions of 2023 on worries regarding the demand outlook in the US and China. The industry-funded American Petroleum Institute posted that US commercial crude stockpiles gained by 3.3 million barrels last week. West Texas Intermediate futures surged over $73 a barrel after capping the biggest two-day loss since March.

Amazon.com Inc is considering dismissing over 17,000 workers, 7,000 more than initially expected, the Wall Street Journal claimed yesterday. Sources revealed that the e-commerce giant commenced laying off staff in its devices division in November as the company was targeting 10,000 job cuts. Some of the additional layoffs are from Amazon's corporate ranks.

The S&P 500 closed on a positive note yesterday but below its session peak after volatile trading. This was noticed after the Federal Reserve's last meeting revealed that officials are laser-focused on controlling inflation though they would slow their interest rate hiking pace. Dow Jones gained 133.4 points, or 0.4%, to 33,269.77 while S&P 500 surged 28.83 points, or 0.75%, to 3,852.97.

US job openings remained higher in November, indicating that a resilient labour market will likely keep the Federal Reserve tilted toward more restrictive policy in the months ahead. The Labor Department’s Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey pointed out that the number of available positions ticked down to 10.46 million from 10.51 million a month earlier.

The EU’s leading privacy watchdog issued a €390 mn fine on Meta Platforms over how users’ data is used for personalized ads on its Facebook and Instagram units. The regulator even provided an ultimatum to bring its services in line with EU law. The Irish Data Protection Commission further stated that Meta has three months to ensure the processing of such information complies with EU rules.

📊U.S. stocks gained considerably during midday as investors accepted the latest jobs data and a fresh valuation on manufacturing activity ahead of the Federal Reserve's release of its policy meeting minutes. 👉The Dow Jones was trading higher by 0.73% or 246 points to 33,385. S&P 500 added almost 47 points, or 1.2%, to around 3,871. The Nasdaq also surged 124 points, or 1.2%, to 10,511.

RBL Bank logged double-digit growth YoY in both advances and deposits in Q3FY23. The private lender's gross advances stood at ₹68,371 crore in Q3FY23 -- thus demonstrating a hike of 14% from ₹59,967 crore in the same quarter a year ago. Sequentially, RBL Bank's gross advances grew by 6% from ₹64,608 crore recorded in September 2022 quarter.