Fed may delay rate hike; optimistic on India: Nomura

Lewis Alexander, MD & US Chief Economist at Nomura in an interview to CNBC-TV18 spoke about the weak economic data from the US, the dollar strength and its impact on other global markets. He also spoke about his expectations from the Federal Reserve.He does not expect the Fed to give a strong signal today and if the dollar continues to strengthen till March, then it is likely to delay rate hike till September.He is also not very pessimistic about the weak data out of the US and says there is no need to overreact. Although the valuations in the US equity market are high, which is challenge but the outlook is still pretty good, says Alexander.Speaking about the ECB quantitative easing he says just providing liquidity in an environment where European economy is struggling isn’t going to be a great environment for risk assets.He is reasonably optimistic on the Indian economy on back of good initiatives by the new government, good leadership at the Central Bank and favourable external environment with lower oil prices. All this augers he believes augers well for India.For the entire interview watch video