Market movers: Duties on imported electronic parts may be put on hold; China slaps dumping duty......

Good morning! Here’s a lowdown on top macro triggers that may move market on January 23, 2019. This report was compiled from agency feeds. 

The government may put on hold its recent notification advancing the date of levying duties on imported electronic components under a Make In India plan after handset makers with domestic manufacturing and assembling facilities protested that these levies would increase the the cost of locally manufactured mobile phones, making it cheaper to import them and effectively killing some 100-odd plants already set up for assembly. 

The Indian government is likely to seek to raise about Rs 80,000 crore ($11.21 billion) through the sale of state-owned assets in the next fiscal year, beginning April 1, two government sources told Reuters on Tuesday. The target, which is the same as for the current financial year, includes proceeds from the privatisation of loss-making national carrier Air India, and the sale of an insurer to be created by the merger of three state-owned firms. The government could also sell shares in a number of state-owned companies through initial public offerings. 

As much as US President Donald Trump wants to boost markets through a trade pact with China, he will not soften his position that Beijing must make real structural reforms, including how it handles intellectual property, to reach a deal, advisers say. Offering to buy more American goods is unlikely by itself to overcome an issue that has bedeviled talks between the two countries. Those talks are set to continue when Chinese Vice Premier Liu He visits Washington at the end of January. 

Japan’s exports in December fell the most in more than two years, dragged by plummeting shipments to China and regional markets as weak global demand and U.S.-Sino trade frictions take their toll on the trade-reliant economy. Exports in December fell 3.8 percent from a year earlier, Ministry of Finance (MOF) data showed on Wednesday, bigger than a 1.9 percent drop expected by economists in a Reuters poll. It was the sharpest year-on-year decline since October 2016. 

Oil prices stabilized on Wednesday after steep falls in the previous session, when markets were dragged down by growing concerns about an economic slowdown. Oil markets have been underpinned this year by production cuts led by the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), aimed at reining in an emerging supply overhang. International Brent crude oil futures were at $61.58 per barrel at 0131 GMT, up 8 cents, or 0.1%, from their last close. US West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures were at $53.04 per barrel, up 3 cents. 

The government will soon initiate the next series of corporate governance reforms at state-run lenders, including a more diversified board structure, stronger board-level committees and a robust performance management system for employees. A finance ministry official aware of the deliberations said the aim is to put in place a standard operating environment on governance in public sector banks (PSBs) in alignment with the Compani Act wherever required.

China has imposed anti-dumping duties on ortho dichlorobenzene (ODCB) imported from India and Japan which will come into effect from Wednesday. The domestic industry has been subject to substantial damages due to the dumping of these products, the Chinese Commerce ministry said on Tuesday in a final ruling after anti-dumping investigations into the imports. 

Employment generation in the formal sector increased by 48% to touch a 15-month high of 7.32 lakh in November 2018 as compared to 4.93 lakh in the year ago month, according to the latest EPFO payroll data. Around 73.50 lakh new subscribers were added to social security schemes of the Employees' Provident Fund Organisation

 (EPFO) from September 2017 to November 2018, the data showed. 

India will surpass China to become the second largest oil demand growth centre globally in 2019 on back of buoyant auto fuel and LPG consumption, research and consultancy group Wood Mackenzie said Tuesday. In a report, Wood Mackenzie said India's oil demand growth recovered strongly in 2018, overcoming the aftermath of the implementation of Goods and Services Tax (GST) and demonetisation, and contributed 14 per cent of the global demand growth or 2,45,000 barrels per day.

India has moved up one position to rank 80th on the global talent competitive index, but remains a laggard among the BRICS nations, a new survey showed Monday. Switzerland continues to top the list, released at Davos by INSEAD business school in partnership with Tata Communications and Adecco Group.