By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji

Global Markets

• Asian shares swoon to 19-mth lows; investors await US data
• Nikkei sheds 4.2 pct, Asia ex-Japan at lowest since March 2017
• IMF’s Lagarde says market valuations extremely high
• High bond yields, Sino-US trade tensions weigh
• Trump calls Fed “crazy” for raising interest rates
• Yen and euro in demand as safe harbours, dollar mixed

Oil Markets

• Oil extends losses as other markets fall, stockpiles climb
• Hurricane Michael spares oil production sites
• Brent crude futures down 1.6 pct at $81.77 a barrel (0543GMT)
• US WTI crude futures down 1.5 pct at $72.07

Precious metals

• Gold prices edge down as strong US data boosts rate rise view
• Spot gold down 0.2 pct at $1,192.41 an ounce (0105GMT)
• US gold futures up 0.2 pct at $1,195.70 an ounce

Grains

• Soybeans slide for third straight session
• Market eyes USDA report later in the sessin
• Corn, wheat extend losses
• Most active CBOT wheat futures down 0.3 pct at $5.09 per bushel (0327GMT)
• Most active corn futures down 0.1 pct at $3.62-1/4 per bushel
• Most active soy futures down 0.3 pct at $8.49-1/2 per bushel
• Most active rice futures down 0.2 pct at $10.92 per hundredweight

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

• South Africa manufacturing production data for Aug-18 due [fcst. 1.8% yy, prev. 2.9%]
• South Africa mining production data for Aug-18 expected [fcst. -10.2% yy, prev. -5.2%]
• Ongoing IMF-World Bank meetings in Bali, Indonesia continue to be in focus

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

• In bid for healthier cities, Ethiopia aims to boost urban green
• US asks investigators to probe whereabouts of millions in Liberian cash
• World Bank criticises Kenya’s approach to cutting fiscal deficit
• Son of ousted Egyptian president freed on bail – judicial source
• Soccer-Zambia boost qualifying hopes with long awaited win
• Ethiopian PM meets with soldiers demanding pay rises – TV
• IMF and Zimbabwe okay Zimbabwe plan to clear arrears as dollar woes bite
• South Africa gets $35 bln in investment pledges towards $100 bln goal
• Egypt says to check hotels at Red Sea resort where British couple died
• Death toll from Nigeria floods reach 199
• South Africa should seek damages from KPMG over bank graft – central bank probe
• Soccer-Sierra Leone’s Nations Cup fate to be decided later
• On your bike? Africa in a jam as ‘poor man’s transport’ ignored
• Sudanese and South Sudanes refugee unite on basketball court
• Al Shabaab attack kills two Kenyan teachers
• Africa Crude – Higher offers emerge for Nigerian, but meet no buyers
• Ethiopian PM reaches agreement with soldiers demanding pay rises – TV
• Buoyant Tunis bourse hopes for state IPOs to draw investors
• South Africa’s Zulu king, civil rights group to form farming partnerhsip
• EX-central banker Mboweni takes on South Africa’s hobbling economy
• Tanzanian rangers harness new technology to fight poachers
• Libya will reduce fee on FX transactions if rate gap narrows
• Sarwa Capital IPO on Egyptian stock exchange covered 30 times – traders
• Angola secures $2 bln in infrastructure financing from China
• Son of outsted Egyptian president detained – family, sources
• Fifty killed in Kenya bus crash
• LMEWEEK – Dollar shortage “short-term problem” for miners in Zimbabwe – minister
• Egypt’s headline inflation rises to 16 pct in Sept – CAPMAS
• Ugandan shilling loses ground on uptick in demand
• South African business confidence index rises in September
• FEATURE-A waste mountain to climb: Can Africa make plastic recycling pay?
• Somali’s al Shabaab executes five men accused of spying
• Workers go on strike at South African social grants agency

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