10 things you need to know before the opening bell on June 1

1. Wall Street: Stock futures were slightly lower in overnight trading after major indexes saw gains in May. Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.10 percent. S&P 500 futures shed 0.09 percent and Nasdaq 100 futures ticked 0.03 percent lower.

2. Asian shares: Shares in Asia-Pacific were mixed in Tuesday morning trade, as investors await the release of a private survey on Chinese manufacturing activity in May. Japan’s Nikkei 225 rose 0.11 percent in trade. South Korea’s Kospi edged 0.62 percent higher. Shares in Australia slipped, with the S&P/ASX 200 declining 0.33 percent. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan traded 0.19 percent higher.

3. Indian shares: The Indian equity benchmark indices ended a percent higher on Monday led by strong gains in metals, FMCG and financial stocks. Rally in index heavyweights lifted Nifty to an all-time high level. The Sensex rallied 514.56 points, or 1.00 percent to close at 51,937.44, and the Nifty ended 147.15 points, or 0.95 percent higher at 15,582.80.

4. Rupee: Halting its three-day winning run, the rupee on Monday tumbled by 17 paise to close at 72.62 against the American currency as stronger US dollar against key rivals and surging crude oil prices weighed on sentiment. At the interbank foreign exchange market, the domestic currency opened at 72.38 a dollar and hit an intra-day high of 72.34 and a low of 72.65 during the day.

5. COVID-19 in India: The World Health Organization (WHO) on Monday said the two coronavirus variants first found in India will be known as “Delta” and “Kappa”. “COVID-19 variant first found in India will be referred to as ‘Delta’ while earlier found variant in the country will be known as ‘Kappa’,” the WHO said. (Reuters)

6. Gold: Gold rose by Rs 195 to Rs 48,608 per 10 gram following a gain in the precious metal prices. Silver dipped marginally by Rs 15 to Rs 70,521 per kilogram from Rs 70,536 per kilogram in the previous trade. In the international market, gold was trading with gains at USD 1,905 per ounce and silver was flat at USD 27.95 per ounce.

7. Cryptocurrencies: Cryptocurrency Ethereum extended gains to rise more than 8 percent on Monday to $2,587 but remained 40 percent below a record high of above $4,300 hit earlier this month. At 1153 GMT, it was trading up 7.4 percent at $2,565.69. Larger rival Bitcoin also gained in its wake with the world’s biggest and best-known cryptocurrency rising 3.7 percent to $36,977 in quiet trading with London and US markets shut for holidays.