Morning News Call – India, July 24 – Reuters India

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    FACTORS TO WATCH
    3:00 pm: NITI Aayog Vice Chairman Rajiv Kumar at an interactive session on
Twitter Live in New Delhi.
5:00 pm: RBI to release weekly foreign exchange data in Mumbai.

       
    INDIA TOP NEWS
    • India toughens public procurement rules for bidders from bordering
nations, seen aimed at China
India on Thursday said bidders from bordering countries eyeing government
contracts would need prior registration and security clearances, a move seen as
New Delhi's latest effort to counter China following a border clash between the
two nations.
• Amazon to open 10 new India warehouses; offers insurance
Amazon.com's India unit on Thursday said it will open 10 new warehouses in the
country and begin offering auto insurance, in moves that will help the
e-commerce giant widen its reach in a key growth market.
• Flipkart buys parent Walmart's Indian wholesale business
Flipkart said on Thursday it had acquired parent Walmart's local cash-and-carry
business, as the e-commerce firm strengthens its wholesale offerings to compete
better with Amazon.com.
• Amazon in talks to buy 9.9% stake in Reliance retail arm - ET Now
Amazon.com is in talks to buy a 9.9% stake in the retail arm of Indian
conglomerate Reliance Industries, ET Now reported on Thursday, citing sources.

• Bajaj Auto focuses on exports as India battles pandemic
Bajaj Auto is betting that an early recovery from the ravages of COVID-19 in
motorcycle sales in its export markets will help it offset pandemic-related
disruption at home, its chief financial officer said.
• Petronet plans to cancel 10-yr LNG import tender
India's top gas importer Petronet LNG PLNG.NS is set to cancel its offer to buy
an annual 1 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for 10 years, two
sources said, as signing long-term contracts are not attractive in the current
scenario.
• India to offer production linked incentives to boost manufacturing
India is working on offering production linked incentives for up to five sectors
to boost domestic manufacturing, a top finance ministry official said on
Thursday, bolstering efforts to attract new investments in the
coronavirus-stricken economy.
    
    
    GLOBAL TOP NEWS
    • Pompeo urges more assertive approach to 'Frankenstein' China
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo took fresh aim at China on Thursday and said
Washington and its allies must use "more creative and assertive ways" to press
the Chinese Communist Party to change its ways, calling it the "mission of our
time."
• U.S. coronavirus deaths top 1,100 for a third day in a row
The United States on Thursday recorded more than 1,100 deaths from COVID-19,
marking the third straight day the nation passed that grim milestone as the
pandemic escalates in southern and western U.S. states.
• More than 1,000 people at Twitter had ability to aid hack of accounts: sources
More than a thousand Twitter employees and contractors as of earlier this year
had access to internal tools that could change user account settings and hand
control to others, two former employees said, making it hard to defend against
the hacking that occurred last week.
  
    
    LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK
    (As reported by NewsRise)
    • SGX Nifty nearest-month futures were trading 0.4% lower at 11,172.20.
• The Indian rupee is expected to trade lower against the dollar after an
increase in weekly U.S. jobless claims triggered worries that the economic
recovery may be derailing.
• Indian government bond yields will likely edge higher in early session ahead
of a fresh supply of notes at a weekly debt auction today, while market
participants await measures from the central bank to absorb New Delhi’s
additional borrowing. The yield on the benchmark 5.79% bond maturing in 2030 is
likely to trade in a range of 5.78%-5.85%.
    
    
    GLOBAL MARKETS
    • Wall Street dropped sharply on Thursday as investors fled market-leading
tech shares due to mixed earnings reports and growing signs of a worsening
coronavirus pandemic, which could exacerbate a deep economic recession.
    • Financial markets greeted with a number of milestones as the euro
celebrated a 21-month peak against an embattled dollar, while Asian equities
paused short of a six-month top.
    • U.S. Treasury yields on the longer end of the yield curve drifted lower on
Thursday as stocks fell and the auction yield for 10-year Treasury-Inflation
Protected Securities (TIPS) hit an all-time low.
    • Oil edged up as the dollar fell to an almost two-year low, although demand
concerns stemming from rising coronavirus cases and U.S.-China tensions kept a
lid on prices.
    • Gold held steady en route to its best week in more than three months,
driven by an escalation in U.S.-China tensions, with investors also looking for
a hedge against possible inflation as hopes for more stimulus measures
grow.
    
    
                   CLOSE        FII INVESTMENTS  EQUITIES         DEBT
 PNDF spot         74.74/74.77  July 23          1,739.42 crores  (222.76) crores
 10-yr bond yield  5.80%        Month-to-date    222 crores       (1,407) crores
                                Year-to-date     (18,291) crores  (108,366) crores
 
    (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 = 74.81 Indian rupees)

 (Compiled by Siddharth Athreya V in Bengaluru)