Halister News

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

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

UPGRADES

• B S Progressive
  • Long-term bank facilities raised to BBB from BBB- at Crisil
  • Cites consistent increase in profitability
• Ferozepur Foods
  • LT bank facilities raised to BB from BB- at Care
  • Cites increasing scale of operations
• Provident Housing
  • Fund-based limits raised to BBB+ from BBB at ICRA
  • Cites improvement in sales
• Puravankara
  • Fund-based limits raised to BBB+ from BBB at ICRA
  • Cites improvement in project sales
• Sudhakar PVC Products
  • LT bank facilities raised to BBB+ from BBB at Crisil
  • Cites sustained revenue growth, stable margins

DOWNGRADE

• Ansal Hi-Tech
  • Fund-based facility cut to B+ from BB- at Brickwork
  • Cites tight liquidity position

(Bloomberg) -- ANZ recommends investors in Malaysian bonds to stay overweight cash and turn neutral on duration from underweight following a recent correction in the market, chief economist Sanjay Mathur and strategist Jennifer Kusuma write in note.

• Favors 5- to 7-year segment of curve at current levels
  • Risk- reward for owning MYR has become attractive due to Malaysia’s growth recovery and a stabilization in current-account surplus
  • Supply-demand dynamic would not change materially in 2018
  • Reduced foreign participation would also insulate MYR bonds from global developments near term
• Refrains from further extending duration and looks to buy 10-year notes on dips; upcoming 10-year auctions in November and December may provide better entry levels
• 2018 budget deficit target of 2.8% of GDP translates into net bond supply of 40.8b ringgit and gross supply of 107.6b ringgit
• Still, improvements do not mean Malaysia’s external position is fully out of the woods as short- term external debt cover of 1.2 is lowest in the region
• Ongoing adjustment in Malaysia bond weightings in various global bond indices remains a source of uncertainty

To contact the reporter on this story: Liau Y-Sing in Kuala Lumpur at yliau@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tan Hwee Ann at hatan@bloomberg.net Patricia Lui

(Bloomberg) -- Japanese institutional investors are broadening their fixed-income exchange-traded fund exposure to include investment-grade corporate bonds and U.S. high yields, according to BlackRock Inc.

• Japanese investors moved initially into Treasuries and U.S. agency ETFs before expanding into investment-grade corporate bonds and U.S. high yields this year, says Jason Miller, head of ETFs at BlackRock Japan Co. Ltd.
  • Funds also showed interest in European corporate and emerging-market debt after the U.S. election and at the start of the year
• Large institutions in Japan are typically more interested in investment-grade bonds but their focus is broadening: Miller
• "Many mandates don’t allow high yield component, but what we see now is some have broader mandates, or have been able to start participating in the U.S. high yield market": Miller
• Number of Japanese institutions perusing BlackRock’s fixed-income ETFs rose to 92 as of August 2017 from 59 in December 2014, according to BlackRock
• BlackRock expects more global investors to turn to fixed-income ETFs as the Federal Reserve normalizes its monetary policy, said Stephen Laipply, head of fixed-income strategy for the firm’s U.S. ETF business
  • "In many respects, rising rates could be appealing to some investors who have been actually waiting": Laipply

To contact the reporters on this story: Chikafumi Hodo in Tokyo at chodo@bloomberg.net; Komaki Ito in Tokyo at kito@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: Tan Hwee Ann at hatan@bloomberg.net Patricia Lui