By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asia shares off 7-mth peak, mood turns cautious
- China blue-chips fade from 1-yr peak, Nikkei highest since Dec
- Beijing signals more stimulus ahead
- Eyes on Fed minutes, latest Brexit deadline
- Oil prices reach highs for the year so far
Oil Markets
- Oil climbs to 5-mth high amid OPEC cuts, US sanctions and Libya fighting
- OPEC, allies have been witholding supply since start of 2019
- US sanctions against Iran, Venezuela also push up crude
- Strong US jobs data helping to support markets
- Analysts still warn of global trade slowdown
- Brent up 0.4 pct at $70.62 per barrel (0716GMT)
- WTI up 0.5 pct at $63.39 per barrel
Precious metals
- Gold prices hit 1-wk high as dollar turns lower
- Gold specs cut net long positions in week to April 2
- SPDR gold holdings fell 3 pct last week
- Platinum hits its highest since May 31 at $912.90/oz
- Spot gold up 0.4 pct at $1,296.06 per ounce (0605GMT)
- US gold futures up 0.4 pct at $1,300.40 an ounce
Grains
- Wheat eases for 3rd session on improved US crop outlook, soybeans firm
- Most active CBOT wheat futures down 0.5 pct at $4.65-1/4 per bushel (0119GMT)
- Most active corn futures up 0.1 pct at $3.62-3/4 per bushel
- Most active soy futures up 0.3 pct at $9.01-1/2 per bushel
- Most active rice futures up 0.1 pct at $10.53 per hundredweight
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- South Africa state capture inquiry resumes [Adjourned to Thursday, 11 Apr]
- South Africa PIC inquiry resumes
- Inauguration of Kenya’s supreme court justice Ojwang probe tribunal
- Nigeria’s Buhari speech at 2019 Annual Investment Meeting in Dubai
- South Africa releases national school monitoring survey
Key African events or data releases over the weekend & early a.m today
[Posted & commented on some headlines below at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Tanzania to ban single-use plastics by July – environment minister
- UN says 2,200 people flee Libya clashes, many more trapped
- Kenya shilling gains ground, helped by inflows into govt bonds
- South Africa rand retreats from 5-wk high
- Sudan soldiers step in to protect protesters from security forces – witnesses
- Squeezed by US shale, Nigeria oil propped up by Asian demand
- Sudan security forces try to break up protest outside defence ministry – witnesses
- UN-backed Libya govt: 11 killed and 23 wounded in clashes in southern Tripoli
- Thousands of Sudanese protesters hold second day of sit-in outside Bashir’s compound
- Rwanda honours those killed in genocide 25 years ago
- Eastern Libya forces conduct air strikes on Tripoli as UN fails to reach truce
- American tourist kidnapped in Uganda park rescued – Uganda military
- Shell appoints its former Tunisia chief to head Egypt business
- Nigeria suspends mining in Zamfara state after banditry surges
- Sudan suffers total power blackout – ministry of electricity
- UN calls for truce in southern Tripoli, Libya to evacuate wounded
- Eastern Libya forces carry out air strike in south Tripoli – sources
- Thousands of Sudan protesters hold second day of sit-in outside Bashir’s compound
- France’s Macron to declare April 7 as commemoration day of Rwanda genocide
- After floods drench eastern Zimbabwe, water shortages parch Harare
- Egypt’s March non-oil private sector activity contracts, PMI shows
- Sudan protesters clash with security forces outside Bashir’s compound
- Civilian killed during protests in Sudan’s Omdurman
- France’s Macron, UN’s Guterres want political solution to Libya crisis
- Algeria’s parliament to elect new interim president on Tuesday – agency
- UN to hold Libya conference as planned despite surge in fighting – envoy
- Russia tells Libya’s Haftar it favours political solution to crisis
- G7 powers urge Haftar to halt advance on Libya’s capital
- Tunisia president Essebsi says he does not want to run for a second term
- G7: Libya’s oil facilities must not be sued for political gain
- G7 cannot accept military escalation in Libya, says Germany
- Egypt says Libya crisis cannot be resolved through military means
- Russia wants politicians in Libya to agree between themselves
- Ethiopia inflation up to 11.2 pct in year to March – stats bureau
- Egypt to slash fuel subsidies as it nears end of IMF programme
- Morocco court upholds prison sentences against Rif protesters
- Rwandan convicted of lying while seeking US asylum after genocide
- Eastern Libya forces control the former Tripoli airport – residents, spokesman
- Finely painted Ptolemaic tomb unveiled in Egypt
- Tripoli forces retake former airport – minister
- Thousands rally in Mali to protest ethnic violence
- Bereaved families blame Boeing after Ethiopia crash report
- DRC plans oil licensing round this year
- Hundreds of thousands of Algerians march for sweeping change
- US 2018 air strike in Somalia killed 2 civilians, US review finds
- Africa Crude – Buyers aloof as offers still too high
- UN secretary general says he is leaving Libya with “heavy heart”
- Libya El Sharar oil field and Zawiya port working normally – field engineer
- UN ups Zimbabwe aid appeal after cyclone
- Tunisia tightens border controls due to escalation between rival Libya factions
- Gulf states, Egypt say will boycott parliament meet in Doha
- Macron appoints researchers to evaluate role of France in Rwanda genocide
- Indonesia to send investigators to Ethiopia to aid crash probes
- Flows to emerging markets should recover in 2019, 2020, IIF says
- Libya forces allied to Tripoli takes 145 prisoners from Eastern forces
- Algeria protesters return to the streets as spy boss reported sacked
- Egypt kills hundreds of suspected militants in disputed gun battles
- Tanzania’s tourism revenues jump 7 pct in 2018
- Kenya shilling holds steady against the dollar
- Fitch sees Brent crude at $62.5/bbl in 2020 as economic woes bite
- Egypt says 2 bln eurobond offer completes international debt auction for FY 18/19
- Russia says it is not backing Libya commander Haftar’s westward push
- Guterres flying to eastern Libya to meet Haftar and lawmakers
- South Africa’s Steinhoff accounts publication postponed again
- Egypt says eurobond offer covered fourfold, no more international debt auctions in FY 2018/19
- South Africa’s net FX reserves fall to $43.3 bln in March
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters