By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asia stocks slip as NAFTA lift fades; oil near 4-yr highs
- MSCI Asia-Pacific index falls 1 pct, Nikkei flat
- Canadian dollar stands near 4-mth high, euro sags on Italy woes
- Crude oil prices elevated near 4-yr peaks
Oil Markets
- Oil near 4-yr high as Washington’s Iran sanctions loom on Nov. 4
- OPEC seen to have little spare capacity to fill Iran loss
- Iran’s oil exports are falling
- Canada/US NAFTA deal lifts market sentiment
- Brent crude futures up 5 cents at $85.03 per barrel (0439GMT)
- US WTI crude futures up 24 cents at $75.54 a barrel
Precious metals
- Gold edges up, but NAFTA deal weighs
- Spot gold up 0.3 pct at $1,190.81 per ounce (0121GMT)
- US gold futures up 0.3 pct at $1,195 an ounce
Grains
- Soybeans edge lower, but near 6-wk high
- Most active CBOT wheat futures up 0.4 pct at $5.11-3/4 per bushel (0054GMT)
- Most active corn futures down 0.4 pct at $3.64-1/4 per bushel
- Most active soy futures down 0.2 pct at $8.55-3/4 per bushel
- Most active rice futures up 0.3 pct at $10.16 per hundredweight
Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
[Posted & commented on some headlines below at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- First lady Melania Trump departs on four-country trip to Africa
- Egypt and Algeria want less spending on subsidies
- Sierra Leone military truck flips over, killing 13
- Spanish tuna vessel arrested for shark fishing off Gabon
- South African sugar makes rare appearance in small ICE October expiry
- UN invites Western Sahara parties to new talks in December
- Ivory Coast cocoa farmgate price up in new season, Ghana’s flat
- Zimbabwe sees faster GDP growth but budget deficit could hobble economy
- African Crude – Chinese buying feeds demand for Angolan grades
- At least 10 die after grenade thrown in night club in South Sudan – police
- Armed with award-winning app, Kenyan tribe fights forced evictions
- South African state pension fund’s assets grow 8.6 pct
- Zimbabwe economic reform plan to push GDP growth to 5 pct – cenbank
- Namibia president wants land expropriated to boost black ownership
- Nigeria’s Buhari promises 2019 elections will be fair after regional vote criticised
- Three die after Somalia car bomb strikes EU convoy – police
- Egypt sells 904 mln Egyptian pounds of T-bonds after cancelled auctions
- Hague court hears Ivory Coast ex-president Gbagbo’s plea for dismissal
- Zambia to introduce sales tax next year to boost revenues
- South Africa looks to kickstart its biofuels industry
- Ugandan shilling trades steady amid flat appetite for hard currency
- Marriott International to increase its Africa hotels by 50 pct by 2023
- South Africa’s ABSA PMI remains in contraction in September
- Kenyan shilling steady against the dollar
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters
