10:30 am: Kotak Mahindra Bank annual shareholders meeting in Mumbai.
11:00 am: Monsoon session of Parliament continues in New Delhi.
6:00 pm: Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan to attend an event in New Delhi.
7:00 pm: Earth Sciences Minister Harsh Vardhan to speak an event in New Delhi.
GMF: LIVECHAT - PRECIOUS METALS Get an outlook on precious metals with Georgette Boele, senior precious metals and diamonds analyst at ABN AMRO at 2:30 pm IST. To join the conversation, click on the link: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/communities/ INDIA TOP NEWS • POLL-Economy set to reclaim top spot for growth this year India will reclaim its position as the fastest growing major global economy this year, partly propelled by benefits from a new tax system and bolstered by an expected central bank interest rate cut, a Reuters poll showed.
• Tata Group considers restructuring tech, infra businesses - Bloomberg Salt-to-software Tata Group is considering a plan to streamline its technology and infrastructure businesses, Bloomberg reported on Wednesday, citing people with knowledge of the matter.
• ONGC gets go-ahead to buy government stake in refiner HPCL India has approved explorer Oil and Natural Gas Corp's plan to buy its 51.1 percent stake in state-refiner Hindustan Petroleum, a government source said on Wednesday, as New Delhi seeks to create a large integrated oil firm.
• Canara Bank Q1 net profit misses estimates; bad loans rise Canara Bank posted a lower-than-expected quarterly net profit on Wednesday, hurt by higher bad loan provisions.
• Banks face $37 billion hit from top 50 stressed assets - CRISIL Indian banks may have to write off 60 percent of the value of bad loans from their 50 large stressed asset accounts, or a hit of 2.4 trillion rupees, ratings agency CRISIL said on Wednesday.
• Rising global potash demand puts buyers on the back foot as contract talks start Improved global demand for potash, a widely used fertilizer, will likely lead to India signing more costly import contracts in 2017 than last year, even as the country's demand is set to drop after the government reduced farmer's subsidies in April.
• Supreme Court to decide on right to privacy, but much more at stake The Supreme Court will hear arguments on Wednesday to determine whether individual privacy is a fundamental right protected by the constitution, in a ruling legal scholars say will have far-reaching consequences.
• India steel ministry says increased Canadian coking coal import likely India plans to increase its import of coking coal from Canada in a bid to diversify its import basket, the steel ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.
GLOBAL TOP NEWS • U.S., China fail to agree on trade issues, casting doubt on other issues The United States and China failed on Wednesday to agree on major new steps to reduce the U.S. trade deficit with China, casting doubt over President Donald Trump's economic and security relations with Beijing.
• BOJ to cut inflation forecasts but stand pat on policy as economy picks up The Bank of Japan is set to paint a brighter picture of the economy on Thursday but cut its inflation forecasts again, reinforcing expectations that it will lag well behind major global central banks in scaling back its massive stimulus programme.
• Trump scolds U.S. Republicans on healthcare; CBO sees 32 million uninsured U.S. President Donald Trump took Senate Republicans to task on Wednesday for failing to reach agreement on overhauling Obamacare, as a new report showed 32 million Americans would lose health insurance if senators opt to repeal the law without a replacement.
LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK (As reported by NewsRise) • The Indian rupee is seen to remain steady against the dollar in opening trade, as traders await outcome to monetary policies from the Bank of Japan and European Central Bank, due to conclude today, for further cues.
• The SGX Nifty Futures were at 9,915.00, down 0.12 percent from previous close.
• Indian government bonds are likely to open lower as investors await fresh supply of papers through two auctions scheduled for today and tomorrow. The yield on the benchmark 6.79 percent bond maturing in 2027 is likely to trade in a 6.43 percent-6.47 percent band today.
GLOBAL MARKETS • The major U.S. stock indexes closed at record highs on Wednesday helped partly by technology stocks, which surpassed a long-standing mark, despite gains on the Dow being capped by a sharp drop in IBM shares.
• Asian shares scaled a near-decade peak, bolstered by a surge in global stocks to new records on strong U.S. corporate earnings, while investors awaited the Japanese and European central bank meetings for insight into their policy outlooks.
• The euro held near a 14-month high against the dollar as investors look to hints from the European Central Bank on tapering of its stimulus, while the yen braced for news from the Bank of Japan's policy meeting.
• U.S. Treasury yields were little changed on Wednesday on light trading volume with benchmark yields hitting their lowest levels in nearly three weeks in advance of a meeting of European Central Bank policymakers on Thursday.
• Oil prices held steady following solid gains the previous day when falling U.S. fuel inventories lifted the market.
• Gold prices steadied early, with the dollar firming as markets waited for clues on the future of key stimulus programmes in upcoming Bank of Japan and European Central Bank meetings.
CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT PNDF spot 64.32/64.35 July 19 $162.96 mln $219.51 mln 10-yr bond yield 6.8 pct Month-to-date $52.66 mln $1.85 bln Year-to-date $8.64 bln $19.85 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 = 64.28 Indian rupees)
