SERBIA:

Serbian banks' NPL ratio falls to 11.1% at end of November
The Serbian banking sector's non-performing loans (NPL) ratio declined to 11.1% at the end of November, down from 17.03% in December 2016, the country's central bank, NBS, said on Friday. The country's banking sector reduced the ratio by 11.2 percentage points in the period between the adoption of the NPL resolution strategy in August 2015 and November 2017, NBS said in a report on the lending activity of the Serbian banks. The banks wrote off 102 billion dinars ($1.06 billion/864.6 million euro) of NPLs in 2017, the NBS said. The Serbian banking sector's NPL ratio in the corporate segment declined to 11.9% at the end of November, down by 5.6 percentage points compared to December 2016, the central bank noted.
Source: SeeNews

ENHL: Energoprojekt Niskogradnja and Colas Rail to lay down tracks on Ada Bridge – Tram traffic to open no sooner than in July 2019
The tram tracks on the Ada Bridge will be laid down by a French company with the help of Serbian colleagues. The Belgrade Land Development Public Agency reached the decision to award the contract worth RSD 1.97 billion (around EUR 16.4 million) to the group of bidders consisting of Energoprojekt Niskogradnja and France’s Colas Rail. As the document states, the completion deadline period is 420 days from the possession of the site. Ideally, then, tram traffic on the Ada Bridge will open in July 2019 if there are no complaints by any of the parties that have not been awarded the contract.
Source: Ekapija

Serbia and China negotiating about new air route
The relations of China and Serbia are at their all-time high, Ambassador of China to Serbia Li Manchang stated and added that it could be said that few countries in Europe and the world had such close relations with China. At a promotion of the Chinese-Serbian Business Association, he said that the visa-free regime, established in January 2017, had led to a great increase in the number of Chinese tourists coming to Serbia. I’m using the opportunity to reveal a secret. We are discussing the launch of the air service between Belgrade and another Chinese city and the negotiations are in progress – Li said. Let us remind that Hainan Airlines has been operating the Belgrade-Beijing air route, with stopovers in Prague, since 2017.
Source: Ekapija

REGION:

SBITOP down 0.13% on Friday, while gaining 0.02% w/w
Slovenian blue-chip index, SBITO lost 0.13 %on Friday, while on an annual level it gained minor 0.02%. The most trade name on Friday was a pharmaceutical accompany Krka, with EUR 69,800 in volume, while its stock price was down 0.7%. Top gainers were Intereuropa and Triglav, with jumps of 2.56% and 1.27% respectively. Top losers were Mercator, with 4.27% decline and Telekom Slovenija, which lost 1.18%.
Source: LJSE, Ilirika

INO:

S&P 500 and Nasdaq close higher as health care jumps, but snap 2-week winning streaks, Europe tumbles by the close as Trump’s tariff announcement spooks investors
U.S. stocks closed well off session lows on Friday, helped by a sharp rise in health care shares. The S&P 500 ended 0.5 percent higher at 2,691.25 after falling more than 1 percent. Health care sector was the best-performing sector, gaining 1 percent. Shares of Universal Health Services and Perrigo were among the best-performers in the index.
Stocks traded sharply lower earlier in the session on fears that President Donald Trump's announced tariffs on steel and aluminum could spark a trade war. Domestically-oriented companies in industries like health care would be among the least affected by a trade war.
In corporate news, Foot Locker shares dropped 12.7 percent after the company reported a bigger-than-expected decline in same-store sales for the previous quarter. Foot Locker's same-store sales fell 3.7 percent, while analysts polled by Reuters expected a decrease of 2.5 percent.
Stocks in Europe finished Friday's session sharply lower after President Donald Trump announced upcoming tariffs on steel and aluminum, raising fears of a potential trade war. The pan-European STOXX 600 extended losses throughout the session, closing down 2.06 percent provisionally. On the week, the STOXX 600 fell 3.68 percent.
In the corporate space, LafargeHolcim reported Friday that a 3.8 billion Swiss franc ($4.04 billion) impairment charge contributed to a net loss of 3.13 billion Swiss francs for its fourth quarter. The stock sunk 7.5 percent, making it one of the worst performers on the STOXX 600.
Source: CNBC, Ilirika