By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asian shares hobbled by mounting risks to global growth
- MSCI Asia-Pacific ex-Japan index down 0.1 pct
- Nikkei up 0.5 pct, US stock futures up 0.2 pct
Oil Markets
- Brent crude dips on global economy worries
- US oil prices steady
- Brent crude futures down 0.2 pct at $60.16 per barrel (0248GMT)
- US WTI crude futures up 0.3 pct at $51.33 per barrel
Precious metals
- Gold prices edge down as firm dollar weighs
- Spot gold down 0.2 pct at $1,236.30 per ounce (0107GMT)
- US gold futures down 0.1 pct at $1,239.3 per ounce
Grains
- Soybeans firm, rebound from 8-day low
- Most active CBOT wheat futures up 0.4 pct at $5.32-1/4 per bushel (0323GMT)
- Most active corn futures up 0.1 pct at $3.85 per bushel
- Most active soy futures up 0.7 pct at $9.06-3/4 per bushel
- Most active rice futures up 0.5 pct at $10.63 per hundredweight
Key African events or data releases this week
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Nigeria’s Buhari to deliver 2019 budget speech on Wednesday
Key African events or data releases over the weekend & early a.m today
[Posted & commented on some headlines below at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Africa Crude – Burst of spot trade mops up Nigerian cargoes
- Nigeria’s president Buhari asks to present budget to parliament on Dec 19 – house speaker
- Zambia denies White House claim China taking over power utility
- Unidentified attackers torch 3 vehicles, kill 2 in Rwanda’s south – military
- Israel ex-general under US sanctions denies arming South Sudan war
- Kenyan warriors hunt cash not lions in Maasai Olympics
- PZ Cussons warns of weakening demand, Nigeria challenges
- Ethiopia jails soldiers who marched on PM palace to up to 14 years
- African Union force denies it was involved in arrest of ex-al Shabaab leader
- Nigerian opposition candidate signs election peace accord
- First Quantum Minerals to cut over 1,000 jobs st Zambia mine
- Zimbabwe ruling party okays Mnangagwa re-election bid in 2023
- South Africa’s Eskom evaluating bids for mortgage business
- US orders non-emergency staff out of Congo before election
- Nigeria lifts UNICEF suspension hours after accusing staff of spying for Islamists
- Ethnic violence in southern Ethiopia kills 21, wounds 61 – state news
- Nigerian court adjourns MTN case untill 22 January
- Nigerian opposition candidate absent from election accord ceremony
- Congo fire destroys thousands of voting machines for presidential election
- Arms firm Denel’s accounts littered with flaws
- UN alarmed by electoral violence and inflammatory speech in Congo
- Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa to publish post-election violence report next week
- Eritrean leader pays first visit to Somalia, seeking closer ties
- South Africa’s AMCU union to remain on strike at Sibanye-Stillwater
- Russia, China abstain on UN CAR vote, unhappy with France
- South Africa’s Aspen says on track to dispose of baby milk business
- Tunisia doctors protest against wage disclosure
- Eskom debt swap not an option – South Africa’s Ramaphosa
- MTN, Nigerian central bank dispute will be over ‘very soon’ – regulator
- Nigeria files $1.1 bln London lawsuit against Shell, Eni, over oil deal
- South Africa’s central bank to wait until May for next rate hike
- France arrests CAR war crimes suspect
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters
