Morning News Call – India, March 31
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FACTORS TO WATCH
5:00 pm: Government to release February Infrastructure output data in New
Delhi.
LIVECHAT – GLOBAL MARKETS & CORONAVIRUS
Murray Gunn, Head of Global Research at Elliott Wave International and lead
contributor to deflation.com discusses his outlook for markets at 11:30 am IST.
To join the conversation, click on the link: https://refini.tv/2P8N0Wp
INDIA TOP NEWS
• India may slash borrowing from market in April amid lockdown -sources
India may slash or even cancel its planned borrowings from the market for
April amid a nationwide lockdown prompted by the coronavirus outbreak, two
finance ministry sources told Reuters.
• India’s vegetable oil demand set to drop for first time in decades
Demand for vegetable oil in India is poised to fall for the first time in
decades as restaurants have pulled down their shutters to comply with a
government order that imposed a 21-day nationwide lockdown to stem the spread of
the coronavirus.
• HPCL invokes force majeure on Iraqi oil – industry source
Indian refiner Hindustan Petroleum Corp (HPCL) has issued a force majeure
notice to Iraq’s Oil Marketing Company (SOMO) to cancel two oil cargoes as local
fuel demand is hit by a lockdown to stem spread of coronavirus, an industry
source said.
• Free cooking gas for poor during lockdown set to push up India’s imports
India’s liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) imports are set to surge in the June
quarter as a move to provide free cooking gas coincides with lower crude
processing by refiners hit by collapsing local fuel demand, company officials
said.
• Indian police fire tear gas at jobless workers defying coronavirus
lockdown
Police in India fired tear gas to disperse a stone-pelting crowd of migrant
workers defying a three-week lockdown against the coronavirus that has left
hundreds of thousands of poor without jobs and hungry, authorities said on
Monday.
• Outrage in India as migrants sprayed with disinfectant to fight
coronavirus
Indian health workers caused outrage on Monday by spraying a group of
migrants with disinfectant, amid fears that a large scale movement of people
from cities to the countryside risked spreading the coronavirus.
• India’s internet curbs in Kashmir hamper coronavirus fight
India’s health ministry on Monday invited doctors in Indian-administered
Kashmir to an online training session on managing ventilators – critical
equipment for patients with COVID-19, the disease caused by the new coronavirus.
GLOBAL TOP NEWS
• U.S. coronavirus death toll rises past 3,000 on deadliest day
The U.S. death toll from the coronavirus pandemic climbed past 3,000 on
Monday, the deadliest day yet in the country’s mounting crisis, while New York
cheered the arrival of a gleaming 1,000-bed U.S. Navy hospital ship as a sign of
hope in the city’s desperate fight.
• Pandemic to hit growth in Asia, China -World Bank
The coronavirus pandemic is expected to sharply slow growth in developing
economies in East Asia and the Pacific as well as China, the World Bank said in
an economic update on Monday.
• China March factory activity unexpectedly expands, but outlook still grim
Factory activity in China unexpectedly expanded in March after contracting
sharply to a record low, but the rapid global spread of the coronavirus is
expected to keep businesses and the overall economy under heavy pressure as
foreign demand slumps.
LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK
(As reported by NewsRise)
• SGX Nifty nearest-month futures were trading 2.3% higher at 8,478.
• The Indian rupee is expected to rebound against the dollar as investors’
risk aversion eased after better-than-expected China manufacturing data. The
rupee will likely be quoted at 75.40 in early trades compared with 75.61 at 5.00
p.m. yesterday, according to a currency dealer at a private bank.
• Indian government bonds will likely trade higher in early session after
the central bank’s announcement to allow uncapped foreign investment in some
sovereign notes.
GLOBAL MARKETS
• U.S. stocks rose on Monday, led in part by healthcare stocks as investors
looked for shares that have become cheap and can withstand the impact to the
economy from efforts to stem the spread of the coronavirus.
• Asian shares managed a tentative rally as factory data from China held out
the hope of a rebound in activity even as other countries across the globe all
but shut down.
• The dollar rose against the yen as Japanese investors and companies rushed
to cover a shortage of the U.S. currency before their fiscal year end, but
sentiment remained fragile as the global coronavirus crisis showed no signs of
abating.
• Longer-term U.S. Treasury yields recovered from lows in late trading on
Monday as investors looked to some positive healthcare news and took signs from
a stock market rally.
• Oil recovered some ground as U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian
President Vladimir Putin agreed to discuss stablising energy markets, but prices
remain near 18-year lows as the coronavirus shutdown destroys demand.
• Gold prices eased as the U.S. dollar held firm, while fears of further
economic fallout from the coronavirus pandemic provided some supported to
bullion, which is on track to post its sixth straight quarterly gain.
CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT
PNDF spot 75.54/75.57 March 30 (3,340.84) crore (2,265.31) crore
10-yr bond yield 6.20% Month-to-date (58,348) crore (58,575) crore
Year-to-date (44,405) crore (68,126) crore
(FII investment numbers are in Indian rupees. Source: National Securities
Depository Limited)
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 = 75.39 Indian rupees)
(Compiled by Swathi Nair in Bengaluru)
