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
