By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asian shares, dollar becalmed awaiting trade news
- Asia shares up marginally after Wall St finishes flat
- US-Mexico trade deal facing obstacles, Canada enters talks
- Next deadline on China tariffs just a week away
- Dollar edges up from lows, euro holds recent gains
Oil Markets
- Oil prices firm on Iran sanctions, but rising global supply caps market
- US sanctions to target Iran’s oil sector from November
- Oil buyers already scaling back orders from Iran
- But non-OPEC crude supply to rise – BoAML
- Brent crude oil futures up 5 cents at $76 per barrel (0030GMT)
- US WTI crude futures up 6 cents at $68.59 a barrel
Precious metals
- Gold prices inch up, but US-China trade tensions weigh
- Spot gold up 0.1 pct at $1,202.46 an ounce (0112GMT)
- US gold futures down 0.5 pct at $1,208.90 an ounce
Grains
- Soybeans edge higher from 6-wk low
- Most active CBOT wheat futures up 0.1 pct at $5.23-1/2 per bushel (0101GMT)
- Most active corn futures unchanged at $3.56-1/4 per bushel
- Most active soy futures up 0.2 pct at $8.35 per bushel
- Most active rice futures up 0.2 pct at $10.71 per hundredweight
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- UK’s Theresa May in Nigeria today; 2nd leg of her 3-nation Africa working visit
- Kenya’s deputy chief justice Mwilu to take plea on abuse of office charges at a magistrate court today
- South Africa’s state capture inquiry to continue today; former ANC MP Mentor to testify for a few minutes, new witness to be called
Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
[Posted & commented on some headlines below at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- South Sudan rebels to sign latest draft peace deal – Sudan
- Egypt’s top Muslim authority condemns harassment of women
- Revised business model spurs profits at South Africa’s RCL Foods
- Truck explodes at Glencore oilfield in Chad, production suspended
- Egypt’s al-Azhar calls for harsh penalties for sexual harassment
- US says air strike kills Islamic State militant in Libya
- Nigerian schoolgirl kidnapped by Boko Haram begs for freedom
- Ugandan army arrests soldiers over beating of lawmakers
- South Africa withdraws land expropriation bill passed in 2016
- South Africa’s rand steadies after volatile trade; stocks rise
- South Africa’s Solidarity union to strike at Sasol over black staff scheme
- Kenya’s deputy chief justice arrested for suspected corruption – police, prosecutor
- Africa Crude – Nigerian and Angolan markets supported by demand uplift
- Congo Republic confirms yellow fever near Angolan enclave
- Swiss court approves Gunvor ex-employee’s Congo bribery plea bargain
- Migrants rejected by Italy were tortured and raped, UN says
- War crimes prosecutor calls for conviction in Congo sexual slavery case
- Uganda parliament speaker demands arrest of security agents behind beating of lawmakers
- Wintershall’s Libya oil output sharply lower at 10,000 bpd
- Britain will use aid budget to boost trade in Africa – PM May
- Vietnam sentences South African drug smuggler to death
- Court rejects Angola fund’s request to appeal in Quantum Global case
- Number of Somalis evicted from their homes doubles in first half of 2018 – report
- South Africa Cashbuild annual profit down 9 pct, shares fall
- South Sudan rebel leader refuses to sign latest peace deal – Sudan minister
- Kenya shilling steady, end month dollar demand subdued
- China says projects to blame for majority of Africa debt
- Britain supports South African land reform – PM May
- Ugandan shilling little changed amid subdued commercial bank dollar demand
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters
