By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asian shares erase losses as Mideast tensions ease
- [Oil up after sharp fall on Wed.], stocks rise
- Safety rush turns to relief rally as Mideast tension ebbs
- Gold & yen give back gains
Oil Markets
- Oil edges up after plunge, as market recovers poise
- Brent up 0.8% at $65.99 a barrel (0109GMT); after tumbling 4.1% on Wed.
- WTI up 1% at $60.22; after nearly 5% drop on Wed.
Precious metals
- Gold inches up as investors still wary of US-Iran conflict risk
- Spot gold up 0.3% at $1,560.36/oz. (0300GMT)
- US gold futures flat at $1,560.50/oz.
Grains
- Soybeans flat ahead of USDA report
- Soybean futures steady at $9.47-3/4 a bushel (0201GMT)
- Corn futures unchanged at $3.84-1/4 a bushel
- Wheat futures up 0.2% at $5.53-3/4 a bushel
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Ethiopia’s Abiy Ahmed in Guinea on state visit
- South Africa manufacturing production Nov-19 [fcst. -0.6% yy, prev. -0.8%]
- South Africa SACCI business confidence Dec-19 [prev. 92.7]
- Kenya’s Nairobi county assembly special sitting on Sonko crisis; county executive meeting also called
- South Africa’s Ramaphosa in Northern Cape for ANC Pre-Jan. 8 mass mobilization drive
Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today
- Turkey, Russia seek Libya ceasefire on Jan. 12 as rivals clash
- Militant attack in Nigerian town kills 20 soldiers, displaces 1,000 residents
- Norway to take 600 Libya evacuees from Rwanda camp
- Libya’s NOC Sanalla says production rates reached 1.174 mln bpd – NOC Facebook
- Niger urged to work with traffickers to curb violence
- US imposes sanctions on South Sudan vice president
- Sudan seizes assets of Bashir’s former ruling party
- South Africa’s Eskonm cuts power for 2nd night in a row
- Africa Oil – More Angolan crude trades, but cargoes linger
- EU pushes Libya’s PM Serraji for ceasefire, warns on Turkey deal
- South African edges up after Iran-US fears abate
- Libyan PM Serraj to meet Italy PM – Italian govt source
- Algeria names panel to amend constitution as protests persist
- Stowaway found dead at Paris airport after Ivory Coast flight – airline
- Rival Libyan forces clash west of Sirte
- EM stocks fall as Iran retaliates against US; South African rand firms
- Kenyan shilling holds steady against dollar
- Loud explosion heard in Somalia’s Mogadishu at a busy junction
- South Africa’s net foreign reserves rise to $44.897 bln in December
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters
