By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji

Global Markets

• Asian stocks cheered by fresh trade talk momentum
• Share edge higher in risk-on mood
• Yen & Swiss franc on back foot in Asia
• Oil prices reverse losses on trade outlook

Oil Markets

• Oil prices steady amid hopes for US-China trade deal
• Brent down 1 cent at $63.64 a barrel (0121GMT)
• WTI down 3 cents at $57.98

Precious metals

• Gold dips as China-US trade optimism dents safe-haven demand
• Spot gold down 0.1% at $1,453.24/oz. (0108GMT)
• US gold futures down 0.2% at $1,453.50/oz.

Grains

• Wheat eases from 1-mth top, soybeans tick up after 4 sessions of losses
• Wheat futures down 0.4% at $5.31 per bushel (0150GMT)
• Corn futures down 0.3% at $3.69-1/4 per bushel
• Soy futures up 0.2% at $8.94-1/2 per bushel
• Rice futures nearly unchanged at $12.20 per hundredweight

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

• Central Bank of Nigeria interest rate decision [fcst. 13.5%, prev. 13.5%]
• Central Bank of Kenya’s Njoroge post-MPC press briefing
• Guinea-Bissau vote-counting ongoing
• Global gender summit in Kigali; 25-27 Nov
• Final campaigns for 27 Nov. Namibia elections
• South Africa state capture inquiry continues

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

• US officials meet with Libya’s Haftar amid push to end Tripoli offensive
• Moroccan court jails rapper for insulting police
• Vedanta warns it may have to process ore outside South Africa
• 2 killed in Congo after protesters torch UN buildings over massacre
• Africa Oil – Angolan spot cargoes offered, Nigerian strong
• Malawi clinches $43 mln from IMF credit programme
• Cameroon’s main opposition party to boycott February elections
• South Africa’s big supermarkets told to drop exclusivity clauses in mall leases
• US recalls ambassador from South Sudan after unity govt failure
• South Africa’s rand slips back into range as trade jitters resurface
• Congo rape victims take to catwalk to show female strength
• South Africa’s Checkers supermarket promises to deliver groceries in an hour
• Africa urged to diversify export markets amid US-China trade war
• South Africa at risk unless it rapidly reforms economy – IMF
• Ivory Coast issues 7-yr 150 bln CFA franc ($255 mln) bond
• Kenya central bank cuts loan rate to 8.5% for first time in over a year
• South Africa’s RBPlat concludes 5-yr wage deal with unions
• Egypt’s central bank governor appointed for second term – state media
• Ivory Coast 2019/20 cocoa port arrivals seen at 607k T by Nov. 24 – exporters
• Ethiopia vows to remove barriers to investment in mining
• Protesters torch DR Congo mayor’s office after massacre
• Namibian court throws out case against voting machines
• South Africa expected to sow fewer maizae hectares than in previous season – survey
• Nigeria’s SecureID taps into Africa’s move from cash to plastic
• Kenya shilling weakens against the dollar amid end-month demand
• Uganda shilling weakens amid a rise in demand by banks and importers
• Waste storage at Africa’s only nuclear plant brimming
• Potash a key focus for Ethiopia’s mining push – draft document
• South Africa blocks arms sales to Saudi & UAE in inspection row
• South Africa’s Pepkor to close loss-making Zimbabwe business
• South Africa’s Sasol expects H1 profit to slump by at least 20%
• South Africa’s Pepkor FY profit rises 14.5%

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