Halister News

--MARTIJN VAN DER STARRE

(Bloomberg) -- Here’s a roundup of debt-rating changes of Indian cos.

• To get this story sent to your inbox real-time, run NI INRATINGS , click on Display & Edit, then Set Alert Delivery

DOWNGRADES

• Indraprastha Logistics
  • Long-term bank facilities cut to BB- from BB at Care
  • Cites net losses, deterioration in solvency position

• Kut Energy
  • LT bank facilities cut to D from BB- at Care
  • Cites delays in servicing of debt obligations

• Laxmi Arogyam
  • LT loan facilities cut to D from B at Crisil
  • Cites overdrawn cash credit limit

• Shree Jagannath Expressway
  • LT bank facilities cut to D from BB+ at Care
  • Cites ongoing delays in servicing of interest on term loans

• Sikkim Ferro Alloys
  • LT loan facilities cut to BBB- from BBB at Crisil
  • LT loan facilities of Trisons Impex also cut to BBB- from BBB at Crisil
  • Expects group’s financial risk profile to deteriorate over the medium term

• Tehri Pulp
  • LT bank facilities cut to D from C at Care
  • Cites delays in servicing of debt obligations

• Uttam Galva Metallics
  • Term loan cut to D from BBB- at Care
  • Cites ongoing delays in servicing of debt

• Uttam Value Steels
  • LT bank facilities cut to D from BB+ at Care
  • Cites ongoing delays in servicing of debt

• Uttaranchal Iron
  • LT bank facilities cut to D from BB at Care
  • Cites instances of delays in debt servicing

UPGRADES

• Autoline Industries
  • LT bank facilities raised to B- from D at Care
  • Cites regularization of debt servicing

• Caparo Engineering
  • LT bank facilities raised to B from D at Care
  • Cites improvement in debt servicing track record

• Crystal Quinone
  • LT loan facilities raised to BBB- from BB+ at Crisil
  • Expects business, financial risk profiles to improve over the medium term

• Equitas Micro
  • LT loan facilities raised to A from A- at Crisil; NCDs also revised to A from A-
  • LT loan facilities of Equitas Housing also revised to A from A- at Crisil
  • Cites successful completion of IPO of parent Equitas Holdings

• Gopi Synthetics
  • LT bank facilities raised to BBB from BBB- at Care
  • Cites increase in scale of operations

• Kirloskar Electric
  • Term loan raised to B+ from C at Care
  • Cites regularization of debt servicing after restructuring

• Man Global
  • LT bank facilities raised to BB+ from BB at Care
  • Cites substantial repayment of loan outstanding

(Bloomberg) -- Asian currencies are broadly lower, led by KRW and MYR, ahead of key BOJ and FOMC rate decisions this week while China central bank cuts yuan reference rate to the lowest level almost in one month. Australia and NZ markets are closed.

• Talks that BOJ may be deliberating on negative rates in lending facilities to domestic banks sent Asian currencies into a tail spin, Stephen Innes, senior trader at OANDA Asia Pacific says in interview
  • Market is betting BOJ will come out with bazooka stimulus package
  • USD/Asia basket also weighed by expectations Fed may backtrack slightly previous comment on global growth concerns, which may increase expectations for a June hike
  • USD/JPY paring previous gains because of lower oil prices and absence of official confirmation that BOJ will go into negative lending rate
• Yen rebounds after dropping on April 22 by most since Oct. 2014; 30-year bond yield gains 8 bps to 0.410%
  • Profit-taking may weigh on USD/JPY and cross-yen today in the wake of sharp rally on Friday, Naoto Ono, Tokyo- based analyst at Ueda Harlow, writes in note today
  • Pairs may still find support from buy-on-dips flow ahead of BOJ meeting this week
  • Negative rates drive Japanese life insurers to take greater risks
• China yuan drops after PBOC sets reference rate at lowest since March 28, while 1-year IRS jump 8 bps to 2.6425%, highest since June 24
  • Downward pressure on spot yuan would likely be substantial if RMB Index slips below 97.00, Tommy Xie, economist at OCBC, says in interview today; estimates index at 97.31 today after PBOC’s yuan fixing
  • China’s earliest economic data show recovery gathers pace in April
• Korea won extends decline as Kospi starts the week on a soft note, in line with rest of regional equities
  • Goldman Sachs raises 1Q GDP growth forecast to 0.4% q/q seasonally adjusted vs 0.3% previously, in light of Feb. rebound in IP, according to note on April 22
  • Data tomorrow will show preliminary GDP rose 2.7% y/y in 1Q, least since 2Q 2015: Bloomberg survey
• Malaysia ringgit slides for third day on lower stocks and oil prices and ahead of Fed meeting this week
  • PM Najib may name new central bank governor this week, New Straits Times reports, without saying where it got information from
• Indonesia Rupiah falls for a third day
  • Yield on 5.25% govt bond due May 2018 dropped 10 bps on April 22, most since April 11, to 6.992%: IDMA data
• Thailand baht weakens, poised for third day of decline
  • Data later today may show customs exports fell 4.8% y/y in March, after a 10.27% gain in Feb., according to median est. of Bloomberg survey
  • Exports probably expanded 4.1% y/y in March on improving commodity prices, Standard Chartered writes in note today; says stronger exports probably kept March trade surplus at $4.18b

(Bloomberg) -- In a perfect world, derivatives would be used for hedging the risk of a related security. This could be what China’s foreign-exchange regulator is hoping for as it plans the continued development and opening up of its forex market. Last week a State Administration of Foreign Exchange spokeswoman said derivatives are risk-management tools, not profit-making instruments. However, the lines between hedging and speculation can, and do, get blurred, sometimes with spectacularly bad outcomes.

• There are already warning signals from the development of the offshore yuan market, which started in Hong Kong six years ago
• The first warning sign was in early 2014 when the offshore yuan dropped suddenly; structured products were skewed too far toward stability or moderate strengthening in the currency, which led to a sharp drop when the yuan moved the wrong way
• Since then there have been other occasions when the offshore tail seems to be wagging the onshore dog in both the options and forward markets
• From late December through January this year there was a massive jump in USD/CNH as bets on a further weakening of the yuan proliferated
• For now China’s central bank seems to have reestablished control over its forex markets, helped by employing an unpredictable pattern to the closely watched daily yuan reference rate setting.
• The resulting confusion among investors is helping to lower trading volumes and directional exposure
• Maybe China has learned enough from observing derivatives in other countries to be convinced they can keep a lid on excessive speculation. Or, they don’t subscribe to one of the most dangerous expressions in the investing lexicon - it’s different this time

(Bloomberg) -- Singapore’s inflation rate probably remained negative in March, economists surveyed by Bloomberg say.

• Consumer prices fell 1.0% y/y following 0.8% decline in Feb., median est. in survey shows; ests. range from -1.4% to -0.4%; data due 1pm local time
• Negative inflation seen lasting until 4Q, according to Bloomberg quarterly survey in March
• MAS said on April 14 CPI-all items inflation would stay negative through 2016
• Feb. CPI was lower than forecast, at -0.8% y/y vs -0.7% est.; SGD fell 0.5% to 1.3667 per dollar on March 23, day data was released
• SGD rose 4.3% vs U.S. dollar in March, finishing month at 1.3484; up 0.1% today at 1.3553 per dollar