(Morning News Call - India edition will not be published through the year-end holiday season from December 25, 2017 to January 1, 2018. Normal service will resume from January 2, 2018. Season’s Greetings and Happy New Year.) To access the newsletter, click on the link: http://share.thomsonreuters.com/assets/newsletters/Indiamorning/MNC_IN_12212017.pdf If you would like to receive this newsletter via email, please register at: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/india-morning/ FACTORS TO WATCH 9:00 am: Prime Minister Economic Advisory Council Chairman Bibek Debroy & Member Ashima Goyal, RBI ED S. Ganesh Kumar and Finance Commission Chairman N. K. Singh at Skoch Summit in New Delhi.
10:00 am: Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman, Reliance Defence CEO Rajesh Dhingra at Assocham’s Conference on Aerospace and Defence.
10:30 am: Abbott Healthcare MD Susheel Umesh, Cadila Healthcare MD Rajiv Modi, Lupin Senior Vice President Venkata Palla at CII’s National Pharmaceutical Conclave in New Delhi.
10:45 am: Food Minister Ram Vilas Paswan, Junior Food Minister C.R. Chaudhary at National Consumer Day function in New Delhi.
12:00 pm: Maruti Suzuki Chairman R.C. Bhargava, Maruti Suzuki MD Kenichi Ayukawa at annual year end media meet in New Delhi.
11:00 am: Winter session of parliament continues in New Delhi.
GMF: BONDS UPDATE Reuters interest rate reporter Dhara Ranasinghe delves into government bond markets at 1900 IST. To join the conversation, click on the link: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/communities/ INDIA TOP NEWS Indian authorities weighing how to regulate cryptocurrencies -SEBI chief India's capital market regulator is talking with the government and central bank about how to regulate cryptocurrencies, its chairman said on Wednesday.
India's HDFC Bank plans to raise up to $3.75 billion from share sale HDFC Bank said on Wednesday it would raise up to 240 billion rupees to fund growth by selling shares to investors, including a preferential issue to its parent HDFC.
Edelweiss Group unit buys Religare's securities business The wealth management unit of India's Edelweiss Group has acquired the securities business of domestic financial firm Religare Enterprises for an undisclosed sum, the two companies said in a statement on Wednesday.
U.S. takes India back to WTO in solar power dispute India has failed to comply with a World Trade Organization ruling on solar power, the United States will tell the WTO's dispute settlement body next month, triggering a fresh round of litigation, according to an agenda issued on Wednesday.
India sugar mills to double ethanol supply as output jumps Indian sugar mills are set to more than double the supply of ethanol to fuel retailers for blending with gasoline in 2017/18, expecting a sharp rise in the local output of the sweetener, an industry body said on Wednesday.
GLOBAL TOP NEWS U.S. House gives final approval to tax bill, delivering victory to Trump The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives gave final approval on Wednesday to the biggest overhaul of the U.S. tax code in 30 years, sending a sweeping $1.5 trillion tax bill to President Donald Trump for his signature.
BOJ keeps policy steady, remains upbeat on economy The Bank of Japan kept monetary policy steady despite growing signs of strength in the economy, signalling that it was in no rush to edge away from crisis-mode stimulus with inflation still distant from its 2 percent target.
Ships in a bottleneck: China, Australia ports clogged as coal, iron ore demand soars More than 300 large dry cargo ships are having to wait outside Chinese and Australian ports in a maritime traffic jam that spotlights bottlenecks in China's huge and global commodity supply chain as demand peaks this winter.
LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK (As reported by NewsRise) The SGX Nifty Futures was trading at 10,454.50, down 0.1 percent from its previous close.
The Indian rupee will likely edge higher against the dollar tracking gains in most other Asian currencies, as the U.S. House of Representatives’ final approval to the tax bill had a limited impact on the greenback.
Indian government bonds are likely to fall after minutes of the Monetary Policy Committee’s latest meeting showed that members raised inflation concerns with one of them saying it was time to reverse monetary accommodation. The benchmark bond yield is likely to trade in 7.20-7.27 percent band today, a trader with a private bank said.
GLOBAL MARKETS • Wall Street's main indexes dipped on Wednesday, pausing after recent record highs as both houses of Congress approved a long-anticipated tax overhaul.
• Asian markets offered a muted reaction on Thursday to the passage of U.S. tax cuts as benefits to company bottom lines were already baked into stock prices, while bonds were spooked by the blowout in government debt needed to fund the giveaways.
• The dollar held near a one-week high against the yen, supported by a rise in U.S. bond yields, with moves limited ahead of a Bank of Japan policy decision and a news conference by the BOJ governor.
• U.S. Treasury yields rose to nine-month highs on Wednesday on optimism a U.S. tax overhaul will help boost growth and as economic data improves.
• Oil prices were stable after posting strong gains late in the previous session on the back of a drop in U.S. crude inventories.
• Gold prices edged up on Thursday, trading within sight of a two-week high touched in the previous session, as the dollar held steady and Asian stocks slipped.
CLOSE FII EQUITIES DEBT INVESTMENTS PNDF spot 64.00/64.03 December 20 -$234.75 mln $26.04 mln 10-yr bond yields 7.22 pct Month-to-date -$707.15 mln $305.90 mln Year-to-date $7.99 bln $26.04 bln For additional data: India govt bond market volumes Stock market reports Non-deliverable forwards data Corporate debt stories [IN CORPD] Local market closing/intraday levels [IN SNAPSHOT] Monthly inflows [INFLOWS RTRS TABLE IN] ($1 = 64.1100 Indian rupees)
