(India Morning Newsletter will not be published on Tuesday, April 4, as markets are closed for Shree Ram Navami) To access the newsletter, click on the link: http://share.thomsonreuters.com/assets/newsletters/Indiamorning/MNC_IN_04032017.pdf If you would like to receive this newsletter via email, please register at: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/india-morning/ FACTORS TO WATCH 10:00 am: State Bank of India Chairman Arundhati Bhattacharya to speak on merger in Mumbai. 10:15 am: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to speak at South Asia Subregional Economic Cooperation countries event in New Delhi. 4:00 pm: Power Minister Piyush Goyal at an event in New Delhi. LIVECHAT - FX WEEK AHEAD FX Buzz analyst Jeremy Boulton analyses G7 currencies at 3:30 pm. To join the conversation, click on the link: https://forms.thomsonreuters.com/communities/ INDIA TOP NEWS • Rosneft-led deal to buy India's Essar delayed until April The purchase of Indian refiner Essar Oil by a consortium led by Russian oil company Rosneft has been delayed by a few weeks, the two sides said on Friday, because some Indian lenders to Essar have yet to sign off on the deal. • India to cut Iranian oil purchases in row over gas field Indian state refiners will cut oil imports from Iran in 2017/18 by a fifth, as New Delhi takes a more assertive stance over an impasse on a giant gas field that it wants awarded to an Indian consortium, sources familiar with the matter said. • India's cabinet approves plan to extend tax benefits for big power projects India's cabinet approved a proposal on Friday to give large power projects extra time to take advantage of tax incentives, as a part of efforts to cut power tariffs and help to reduce stress on banks saddled with bad loans. • India's Reliance Jio signs up 72 million paying customers India's Reliance Jio, the telecom unit of Reliance Industries, said on Friday it had signed up 72 million paying customers under its Prime plan, and added it had extended the enrolment deadline for the plan until April 15. GLOBAL TOP NEWS • Trump presses China on North Korea ahead of Xi talks U.S. President Donald Trump held out the possibility on Sunday of using trade as a lever to secure Chinese cooperation against North Korea and suggested Washington might deal with Pyongyang's nuclear and missile programs on its own if need be. • Japan business mood brightens as recovery broadens - BOJ tankan Japanese big manufacturers' business confidence improved for a second straight quarter to hit a one-and-a-half year high in March, a closely watched central bank survey showed, a sign the benefits of an export-driven economic recovery were broadening. • Leftist claims victory in Ecuador, conservative asks for recount Leftist government candidate Lenin Moreno claimed victory in Ecuador's presidential vote on Sunday, bucking a shift to the right across South America, but the conservative challenger asked for a recount as his supporters took to the streets in protest. LOCAL MARKETS OUTLOOK (As reported by NewsRise) The SGX Nifty Futures were trading at 9,217.00, trading up 0.2 pct from its previous close. The Indian rupee will likely open higher against the dollar, in line with its Asian peers, as tepid U.S. economic data and cautious comments from Federal Reserve officials weighed on the greenback. India’s financial markets will remain closed for local holiday on Tuesday. Indian government bonds will likely edge higher, as investors may step up purchases in the first trading session of the new financial year that began Apr. 1. However, caution ahead of the nation’s monetary policy decision later this week may weigh on appetite. The yield on the benchmark 6.97 pct bond maturing in 2026 is likely to trade in a 6.67 pct-6.73 pct band today. The bond had closed at 101.91 rupees, yielding 6.69 pct, on Friday. GLOBAL MARKETS • Wall Street fell on Friday, pulled down by Exxon and JPMorgan Chase as investors wrapped up a strong quarter and weighed whether corporate earnings reports will justify the market's lofty valuations. • Asian shares started the week on a steady footing after a bumper quarter as investors look to the shape of U.S. trade and economic policies and how they could affect global growth. • The dollar started the week on the back foot as some lacklustre U.S. data and comments from Federal Reserve officials gave investors few catalysts to build on their U.S. currency exposure. • U.S. Treasury debt yields fell on Friday after a chorus of Federal Reserve officials questioned the need for a faster pace of interest rate increases given tame inflation and just modest growth in the U.S. economy. • Oil futures dipped as a higher U.S. rig count indicated rising shale output and stoked worries about global oversupply, while a stronger dollar also pressured prices. • Gold prices held steady after marking their best quarter in a year, supported by uninspiring economic data from the United States and dovish remarks from a Federal Reserve official on Friday. CLOSE FII INVESTMENTS EQUITIES DEBT PNDF spot 64.85/64.88 March 31 $45.60 mln $9.10 mln 10-yr bond yield 7.04 Month-to-date $4.69 bln $4.16 bln Year-to-date $6.24 bln $5.47 bln 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 = 64.8500 Indian rupees) (Reporting by Nayyar Rasheed in Bengaluru)