GMF: LIVECHAT - CHINA FOCUS Zhou Hao, senior emerging markets economist at Commerzbank, will break down all the recent developments in China, including economic data and China's Constitutional amendment that will allo Xi to stayin office indefinitely. All this just ahead of the China's NPC meet on March 8. Most analysts expect the NPC to again set a GDP growth target of around 6.5% for 2018, below last year's actual 6.9 percent growth, and continue the financial deleveraging and anti-pollution drive. Yet signs of more pronounced weakness in data could quickly shift the focus from reining in risks to supporting the economy. To join the conversation at 09:30 am IST, click on the link: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/communities/ INDIA TOP NEWS • India's ruling party emerges stronger after polls in northeast India's ruling Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP) on Saturday consolidated its position in the country's northeast after a landslide election victory in Tripura, ending 25 years of communist rule in the state.
• India federal police arrest four more in PNB probe India's federal police have made four more arrests in the $2 billion fraud case involving state lender Punjab National Bank (PNB), widening the investigation of the biggest banking fraud in the country’s history.
• ArcelorMittal teams up with Nippon Steel to bid for India's Essar Steel ArcelorMittal, the world's largest steelmaker, said on Friday it would form a joint venture with Japan's Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal to bid for bankrupt steelmaker Essar Steel India Ltd.
• India doesn't expect immediate hit on steel exports after US import curbs - govt official India does not expect any immediate impact from U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to impose curbs on steel imports, the steel ministry's top bureaucrat said on Friday.
• India raises import tax on palm oil to highest in a decade India has raised import tax on crude and refined palm oil to the highest level in more than a decade, the government said in a statement on Thursday, as the world's biggest edible oil importer tried to support local farmers.
• Alibaba unit invests $150 million in India's Zomato A unit of China's Alibaba Group Holding has invested $150 million in Zomato, valuing the Indian food search and delivery service at more than $1 billion, the companies said on Thursday.
• State Bank of India raises lending rates State Bank of India, the country's top lender by assets, on Thursday raised marginal cost-based lending rates (MCLR) across most maturities, effective immediately.
GLOBAL TOP NEWS • China keeps growth target at 6.5 pct, stays focused on financial risks China aims to expand its economy by around 6.5 percent this year, the same as in 2017, while pressing ahead with its campaign to reduce risks in the financial system, Premier Li Keqiang said.
• Italy vote points to stalemate with 5-Star in ascendancy Italian voters delivered a hung parliament on Sunday, flocking to anti-establishment and far-right parties in record numbers and casting the euro zone's third-largest economy into political gridlock, initial results showed.
• Almost 2,500 GM Korea workers apply for voluntary redundancy package Almost 2,500 workers at General Motors' South Korean unit, equivalent to 15 percent of its staff, have applied for a redundancy package that the U.S. automaker is offering as part of a drastic restructuring, union officials said.
LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK (As reported by NewsRise) • The SGX Nifty Futures were trading at 10,340.00; Nifty 50 Index had closed at 10,458.35 on Thursday.
• The Indian rupee will likely edge higher, as the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party won assembly elections in the North-eastern states, and as U.S. President Donald Trump’s trade tariff threats weighed on the greenback.
• Indian government bonds are likely to edge lower in early trade tracking firm U.S. Treasury yields. The yield on the 7.17 percent bond maturing in 2028 is likely to trade in 7.75 percent-7.80 percent band today.
GLOBAL MARKETS • The S&P 500 ended another turbulent week on an upbeat note Friday, but major indexes posted their worst week of losses since early February as President Donald Trump's threat to impose import tariffs on steel and aluminum rattled investors.
• Asian shares were on the backfoot and the safe-haven yen rose amid fears of a global trade war, while the euro was choppy as investors worried Italy's national elections could deliver an anti-establishment government.
• The euro clawed back earlier losses but remained prone to volatility as early counts in Italian elections pointed to stronger-than-expected results for euro-sceptic parties, with no major party blocs winning an outright majority.
• U.S. Treasury yields rose on Friday, with the 10-year yield bouncing back from a three-week low as the Bank of Japan's chief hinted at a possible exit from its ultra-easy policies if inflation hits its target in its fiscal 2019.
• Oil prices rose ahead of a meeting between OPEC and U.S. shale firms in Houston, raising expectations that oil producers would discuss further how to clear a global oil glut.
• Gold prices rose as the dollar remained pressured amid fears of a global trade war following U.S. President Donald Trump's decision to impose tariffs on imports of aluminum and steel.
CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT PNDF spot 65.20/65.23 March 1 $37.1 mln -$177.38 mln 10-yr bond yield 7.74 pct Month-to-date -- -- Year-to-date $107.86 mln $913.52 mln 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 = 65.2100 Indian rupees) (Compiled by Nayyar Rasheed in Bengaluru)
