MORNING NEWS CALL

(Morning News Call - India edition will not be published through the year-end holiday season from December 24,

2018 to January 1, 2019. Normal service will resume from January 2, 2019. Season’s Greetings and Happy New

Year.)

FACTORS TO WATCH

1:00 pm: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar to release ‘Strategy for New

India@75’ document in New Delhi.

LIVECHAT - ECONOMY FOCUS

David Page, senior economist at AXA Investment Managers, joins us at 3:30 pm IST to talk about the future of the

economy going in to 2019 and how to access the economic impact of uncertainty. To join the conversation, click here.

Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Survey 2018Q4

A very cautious optimism remains among Asian companies in the fourth quarter as they wait to see whether there will be

any breakthrough in a trade dispute between the United States and China, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed.

To read more, click here. Reuters reporter John Geddie will be taking questions on the survey from 10:00 am IST in the

Global Markets Forum community chatroom. To join, please click here.

INDIA TOP NEWS

SEBI chief laments slow pace of IPOs hitting market

The chief of India's capital market regulator on Tuesday expressed concerns about the slow pace of initial public

offerings hitting the market despite approval for filings worth around $8.43 billion.

U.S.-based Carlyle seeks to double stake in PNB Housing - report

U.S-based private equity firm Carlyle Group is looking to double its stake in Indian housing finance company PNB

Housing Finance, Bloomberg Quint reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter.

Ola to invest $100 million in Indian scooter sharing startup Vogo

Indian ride-hailing firm Ola will invest $100 million in Vogo, a domestic scooter sharing start-up, and add the company's

fleet of two-wheelers to the Ola app to broaden the range of vehicles it offers, the companies said in a joint statement on

Tuesday.

Regulator says Reuters report on J&J baby powder "under consideration"

India's federal drug regulator said on Tuesday a Reuters report that Johnson & Johnson knew for decades that cancer-

causing asbestos lurked in its baby powder was "under consideration".

Kenya's Airtel gains mobile share in third quarter, Safaricom slips

Kenyan telecom operator Airtel, a unit of India's Bharti Airtel, slightly increased its mobile subscription market share in

the third quarter, while rival Safaricom's fell, an official report showed on Tuesday.

GLOBAL TOP STORIES

SoftBank suffers rare Japan debut drop after record IPO

SoftBank shares slumped more than 10 percent in their debut, as investor appetite for Japan's biggest ever IPO was

2

hurt by a recent major service outage at the telecoms operator and worries over its exposure to Chinese telecom gear

maker Huawei.

Japan exports slow to crawl on global growth woes, trade tensions

Japan's export growth slowed to a crawl in November as shipments to the United States and China weakened sharply,

in a sign slowing external demand and a Sino-U.S. trade dispute may leave the world's third-largest economy

underpowered over the next year.

British government to activate full 'no-deal' Brexit preparations

The British government said on Tuesday it would implement plans for a no-deal Brexit in full and begin telling

businesses and citizens to prepare for the risk of leaving the European Union without an agreement.

STATE OF THE MARKETS

SGX Nifty nearest-month futures were trading up 0.4 percent at 10,996.50, from its previous close. - NewsRise

The Indian rupee is expected to open higher against the dollar after Brent crude plunged to its lowest in more than a

year. - NewsRise

Indian government bonds will likely rise in early trade, after the central bank announced a higher-than-expected open

market purchase of notes scheduled for the next few weeks, while a consistent fall in crude oil prices also aided investor

sentiment. The yield on the benchmark 7.17 percent bond maturing in 2028 is likely to trade in a 7.28 percent-7.35

percent band today, a dealer with a state-run bank said. - NewsRise

The benchmark S&P 500 stock index ended little changed in a choppy trading session on Tuesday as the possibility of

a partial U.S. government shutdown raised investor jitters ahead of a highly anticipated meeting of the Federal Reserve.

Asian share markets played second string to bonds as a spectacular fall in the price of oil spurred speculation the U.S.

Federal Reserve might be done with tightening after its policy meeting later in the session.

The dollar languished close to one-week lows as investors wagered the Federal Reserve would slow the pace of U.S.

monetary tightening after its keenly-watched policy meeting later in the day.

U.S. Treasury prices gained on Tuesday a day before the Federal Reserve’s highly anticipated interest rate decision

from its two-day meeting is announced.

U.S. oil prices rose to claw back part of their more than 5 percent losses from the previous session, with worries about

oversupply and a slowing global economy keeping markets under pressure.

Gold scaled a more than five-month peak before erasing all the gains to trade steady as investors awaited the

conclusion of a two-day policy meeting of the U.S. Federal Reserve for clues on the pace of monetary tightening next

year.

CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT

PNDF spot 70.86/70.89 December 18 $20.61 mln $28.53 mln

10-yr bond yield 7.35 pct Month-to-date $374.75 mln $457.04 mln

Year-to-date -$4.68 bln -$6.69 bln

3

reuters.marketwatch@thomsonreuters.com

https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/products-services.html

https://www.thomsonreuters.com/en/contact-us.html

click here

https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/india-morning/Unsubscribe/

PICTURE OF THE DAY

A man walks on the boundary wall of a golf course as the sun sets on a cold winter day in Srinagar December 18. REUTERS/Danish Ismail