10:00 am: Railways Minister Suresh Prabhu at an event New Delhi.
11:00 am: Budget session of parliament continues New Delhi.
11:45 am: Tata Motors launch event in Kolkata.
12:30 pm: Aviation Minister Ashok Gajapathi Raju to brief media on regional connectivity scheme New Delhi.
01:00 pm: NPCI MD A.P. Hota to launch cashless payments initiative in Mumbai.
03:00 pm: Rural Electrification Corp CMD P.V. Ramesh to brief media New Delhi.
LIVE CHAT - FED FOCUS Most FedSpeak points to two more rate hikes in 2017, with few hints on the U.S. central bank's plan to normalise its balance sheet. Jennifer Kusuma, senior Asia rates strategist at ANZ, will discuss the possible impact on Asian markets, capital flows and local debts as bond yields get pushed up, at 9.30 am. To join the conversation, click on the link: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/communities/ INDIA TOP NEWS • India's lower house of parliament passes key tax reform bills India's lower house of parliament on Wednesday passed key legislations, putting Asia's third-largest economy on course to launch a nationwide goods and services tax from July.
• India's top court bans sale of older-technology vehicles from April India's top court on Wednesday banned the sale of vehicles running on older Euro III fuel technology from April 1, a decision that led to a sharp fall in shares of major automakers sitting on unsold inventories.
• Indian regulator says Agrium-Potash merger likely to hurt competition India's competition regulator said the proposed merger of fertilizer producers Agrium Inc and Potash Corp of Saskatchewan Inc is likely to hurt competition, but the comments were not expected to prevent the merger.
• Vedanta's Agarwal says no plans to buy Anglo American assets in South Africa The chairman of Indian miner Vedanta Resources said on Wednesday he had no plans to buy assets in South Africa from Anglo American or push for a board seat after announcing plans to buy a 13 percent stake in the mining giant.
GLOBAL TOP NEWS • 'No turning back': PM May triggers 'historic' Brexit Prime Minister Theresa May formally began Britain's divorce from the European Union on Wednesday, declaring there was no turning back and ushering in a tortuous exit process that will test the bloc's cohesion and pitch her country into the unknown.
• Huge nuclear cost overruns push Toshiba's Westinghouse into bankruptcy Westinghouse Electric Co, a unit of Japanese conglomerate Toshiba Corp, filed for bankruptcy on Wednesday, hit by billions of dollars of cost overruns at four nuclear reactors under construction in the U.S. Southeast.
• U.S. State Dept employee charged in making contacts with Chinese agents A U.S. State Department employee with access to sensitive information was accused of failing to report contacts with Chinese foreign intelligence agents who provided her with gifts in exchange for diplomatic and economic information, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday.
LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK (As reported by NewsRise) The SGX Nifty Futures were trading at 9,156.00, trading up 0.13% from its previous close.
The Indian rupee will likely open higher against the dollar, as foreign investors continue to pump money into the nation’s markets ahead of the end of the financial year. However, broad strength in the greenback amid expectations of more rate increases from the Federal Reserve and weakness in the euro, is expected to limit gains - NewsRise.
Indian government bonds will likely edge higher in early trade amid expectations strong foreign fund inflows seen over the past few sessions will persist, and as the U.S. yields fell slightly, keeping local debt attractive. The yield on the benchmark 6.97 pct bond maturing in 2026 is likely to trade in a 6.72 pct-6.77 pct band today. The bond had closed at 101.52 rupees, yielding 6.75 pct, yesterday.
GLOBAL MARKETS • The benchmark S&P 500 eked out a gain on Wednesday as strength in the energy and consumer sectors offset declines in financial shares and investors began looking ahead to first-quarter earnings season.
• Asian shares edged up to near their highest in two years , while the dollar benefited from waning expectations that the European Central Bank was poised to end its easy policy.
• The dollar hovered near a one-week high against a basket of currencies , buoyed by a weaker euro which sagged as prospects of the European Central Bank stepping away from monetary easing faded.
• U.S. Treasury debt yields slid on Wednesday in generally light trading, pressured by lingering uncertainty surrounding the Trump administration's economic policy.
• Oil prices dipped ending two days of increases as record U.S. crude inventories outweighed a fall in gasoline stocks and disruptions in Libyan supplies.
• Gold prices held steady, supported by uncertainties on the impact of Britain's departure from the European Union, U.S. policy under President Donald Trump and French elections, but at the same time capped by a stronger dollar.
CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT PNDF spot 65.91/65.94 March 29 $71.10 mln $385.82 bln 10-yr bond yield 7.09 Month-to-date $4.51 bln $3.99 bln Year-to-date $6.07 bln $5.31 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 = 64.8400 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Pradip Kakoti in Bengaluru)
