By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji

Global Markets

• Asian shares extend losses on trade, emerging market anxiety
• MSCI Asia ex-Japan down 0.26 pct, Nikkei off 0.58 pct
• Investors wary about escalation in US-China trade war
• Dollar index retreats from 2-week highs

Oil Markets

• Oil prices fall on emerging market woes, looming tariff deadline
• Brent crude futures down 0.4 pct at $77 a barrel (0031GMT)
• US WTI crude futures down 0.4 pct at $68.47 per barrel

Precious metals

• Gold holds gains on dollar weakness; Sino-US trade in focus
• Spot gold up 0.3 pct at $1,199.21 (0025GMT)
• US gold futures up 0.3 pct at $1,204.90 an ounce

Grains

• Wheat firms for first time in three sessions
• Most active CBOT wheat futures up 0.2 pct at $5.22-3/4 per bushel (0031GMT)
• Most active corn futures up 0.3 pct at $3.66-1/4 per bushel
• Most active soy futures up 0.2 pct at $8.40 per bushel
• Most active rice futures up 0.5 pct at $10.86 per hundredweight

Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]

• South Africa current account balance data for Q2 2018 expected [fcst. -3.1% of GDP, prev. -4.8%]

Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
[Posted & commented on some headlines below at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]

• Cholera ruled out after suspect case in Algeria-France flight
• Danone CEO seeks to reassure Morocco consumers amid boycott
• NHC says 70 pct chance of cyclone near Cape Verde islands
• UN inquiry says Burundi still committing crimes against humanity
• Suspected Boko Haram militants kidnap at least 10 people in northeast Nigeria
• Ugandan lawmakers appeal law allowing Museveni re-election bid
• White unionised workers protest at Sasol plant over black share scheme
• Bond sell-off to deepen as South Africa slips into recession
• Two opposition lawmakers elected in Rwanda for the first time
• Wheat extend slide as Egypt buys Russian supplies; corn, soy weak
• South African rand tumbles as recession dims investor sentiment, stocks falter
• Africa Crude – Nigerian differentials steady after active bidding by BP
• Ship docks, road upgrade planned as Eritrea, Ethiopia ties strengthen
• Ghana signs preliminary deal with China’s Sinotruck for assembly plant
• US designates al Qaeda affiliate in Mali as terrorist organization
• Congo records first ebola death in major eastern trade hub
• Africa’s farmers need political support more than ‘seeds, weather and soil’
• Egypt ‘taking steps’ over $2 bln payment to Union Fenosa Gas – statement
• Libya to reopen Tripoli airport within two days after ceasefire
• Eritrea plans to upgrade key road to Ethiopia – state tv
• MTN’s Ghana unit up 4 pct on stock market debut – traders
• Women raped in Mauritania risk jail for seeking justice – report
• Czech PM lauds work of Libyan coast guard, urges closer cooperation
• South Sudan expects to return to peak oil output of 350k bpd by mid-2019
• Angola’s net reserves fall to $12.7 billion in August
• Steinhoff’s former CEO rues joint venture with Austrian businessman Seifert
• Egypt’s net reserves rise to $44.42 bln
• Somali militants kill soldiers, kidnap scores of elders
• African gas output could make up 10 pct of global total by 2040 – official
• South Africa, Indonesia CDS at over 1-1/2 yr highs as EM selloff extends
• Steinhoff’s former CEO says not aware of accounting irregularities at company
• Ugandan shilling weakens as energy, manufacturing demand weighs
• UN inquiry says Burundi still committing crimes against humanity
• Kenyan shilling little-changed amid horticulture inflows
• Rand rout extends South Africa dollar debt selloff, 2044 bond at record low
• Egypt to finalise rules for short selling of shares by end of September
• Kenya 428 km power line complete, to add 310MW to grid by December
• Emerging market portfolio inflows shrivel to $2.2 bln in August
• Landslide kills 12 in southern Ethiopia, media report says

N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters