By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asia stocks drift lower as holiday lull counters trade cheer
- Volumes in Asia expected to be low before holidays
- Trade deal lifted Wall Street to record closing high
- Hope for monetary easing lifts China shares
Oil Markets
- Oil prices inch higher amid support for supply cuts, lower inventory forecast
- Brent up 7 cents at $66.46 a barrel (0105GMT)
- WTI up 4 cents at $60.56
Precious metals
- Gold holds ground on weak US data, trade deal concerns
- Spot gold unchanged at $1,485.20/oz. (0047GMT)
- US gold futures flat at $1,489.20/oz.
Grains
- US grains rangebound ahead of holiday, trade deal hopes
- Wheat futures up 0.2% at $5.40-1/2 a bushel (0150GMT)
- Soybeans futures down 0.1% at $9.32-3/4 a bushel
- Corn futures down 0.1% at $3.88-1/2 a bushel
Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
- Ivory Coast issues arrest warrant for presidential candidate Soro
- US halts sending bomb-sniffing dogs to Jordan, Egypt as 7 die
- Israel opposes Turkey-Libya maritime border accord
- Oil steadies as Russia touts easing OPEC+ output
- Tunisia PM-designate says to form govt of ‘independents’
- Congo prosecutors probe Israeli billionaire’s loan to state mining company
- Pro-govt group attacks rally demanding release of “illegally” held Nigerians
- Algeria’s powerful army chief dies at pivotal point in political crisis
- South Africa’s rand firms on US-China trade deal optimism
- Nigeria’s IHS Towers buys Brazilian telecoms infrastructure company CCS for undisclosed amount
- AngloGold Ashanti and IAMGOLD to sell stake in Mali mine
- Weak economy cuts number of South African companies paying tax
- Algeria’s president appoints General Said Chengriha as acting army chief
- Ankara and Moscow to discuss Syrian migrants, Libya conflict
- Uganda shilling unchanged amid thin trading volumes
- APICORP agrees $250 mln loans with Algeria’s Sonatrach subsidiary
- After Ethiopia crash, victims’ relatives say they were hounded by US law firms
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters
