By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji

Global Markets

• Asia stocks quiet, dollar firm after upbeat US job data
• Stocks subdued after Wall St’s mixed Friday performance
• China markets closed all week for Lunar New Year

Oil Markets

• Oil prices slip, but tightening supply outlook supports
• Brent down 24 cents at $62.51 a barrel (0122GMT)
• US WTI down 20 cents at $55.06 per barrel

Precious metals

• Gold slips on firm dollar, robust US jobs data
• Spot gold down 0.3 pct at $1,314.47 per ounce (0123GMT)
• US gold futures down 0.2 pct at $1,320.1 an ounce

Grains

• Soybean prices fall after hitting highest since June, wheat eases
• Most active CBOT soybean futures contract down 0.1 pct at $9.16-3/4 per bushel (0130GMT)
• Most active wheat futures down 0.1 pct at $5.23-3/4 a bushel
• Most active corn futures unchanged at $3.78-1/4 per bushel

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

• Kenya nurses go on strike today over allowances
• Trial of suspended Nigeria chief justice Onnoghen to resume
• Africa mining indaba in Cape Town starts (4-7 Feb); Ramaphosa keynote speaker
• Malawi presidential candidates begin presenting nominations today
• South Africa SACCI business confidence data for Jan-19 due [prev. 95.2]

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

• Egypt to consider longer presidential term – lawmaker
• Egypt hosts Palestinian groups, urges calm with Israel
• South Africa disappointed after Western powers criticise policy in memo to Ramaphosa
• Egypt’s short-term dollar debt drops to $14 bln – finance ministry
• Egypt unveils ancient burial site, home to 50 mummies
• CAR reaches peace deal with armed groups
• Sudan PM says protesters’ economic demands are legitimate
• Nigeria vice-president survives chopper crash weeks before election
• South Africa’s EFF party says in election manifesto to nationalise mines
• Russia sailors held in Cape Verde on suspicion of smuggling 9 tonnes of cocaine
• Suicide car bomb explosion in Somalia leaves casaulties – police
• Sudan man dies in detention after protests – family members
• Belgium to take in Ivory Coast ex-president Gbagbo – Belga
• East Africa nations approve individual trade pacts with EU if joint deal not reached
• 4 Libya soldiers die in first clash of forces’ southward push
• Ivory Coast ex-president Gbagbo freed by Hague court
• After Nigeria army abandoned town, Boko Haram slaughtered at least 60
• With mood volatile, Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa denies rift with deputy
• Africa Crude – Angolan nearly sold out, Nigerian offered at high levels
• Emerging central banks’ tightening cycle grinds to a halt
• Long persecuted, Tanzania albinos find acceptance growing slowly
• Board of South Africa state pension fund resigns as scandal deepens
• South Africa’s finance minister to name interim PIC board next week – spokesman
• South Africa’s Eskom narrows funding gap with $1.1 bln loan
• At fresh protests, Sudan police fire tear gas at demonstrators
• Insecurity throws Nigeria election preparations into disarray
• Emerging markets pull in $51.1 bln in January, highest in 12 mths – IIF
• Nigeria’s pan-African bank UBA expands to Mali
• Zambia fires CEO of state mining investment arm ZCCM-IH
• Morocco set for fuel price caps by mid-March – minister
• Uganda seizes ivory, pangolin scales worth an estimated $8 mln
• Anadarko signs long-term deal with CNOOC for Mozambique gas
• Egypt M2 money supply growth slows to 13.3 pct in December – c.bank
• South Africa Absa PMI falls in January as business activity slips
• Kenya shilling firms against the dollar

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