By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji, @macroafrica

Global Markets

• Asia shares sluggish after Wall Street’s tech-inspired rally
• Dollar weaknes slightly on disappointing data
• Nikkei slips 0.5%, Chinese blue chips down 0.25%
• Safe haven gold rises on Buffet move
• Oil mostly holds gains after output cut
• Brent down 0.1% at $45.31, Gold up 0.4% at $1,995/oz.

Oil Markets

• Oil lower as suppliers seek to hold promises on output cuts
• Brent down 0.5% at $45.15 a barrel (0322GMT)
• WTI down 0.5% at $42.66

Precious metals

• Gold prices extend gains on dollar weakness, $2,000-mark eyed
• Spot gold up 0.2% at $1,990.13/oz. (0351GMT)
• US gold futures up 0.1% at $1,999.70/oz.

Grains

• Corn eases from 5-wk top on expectations of higher US production
• Corn futures down 0.3% at $3.43-1/2 a bushel (0258GMT)
• Wheat down 0.4% at $5.24-1/4 a bushel
• Soybeans down 0.2% at $9.13-1/4 a bushel

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

• Ghana presidential frontrunners Akufo-Addo & Mahama tour regions
• Ghana’s Bawumia speaks on infrastructure
• Kenya Senate adhoc committee meets on revenue allocation impasse; after passage failure for umpteenth time
• Kenya’s Kenyatta cabinet reshuffle back in focus; after cabinet et al. sent on compulsory leave
• Key African countries on lockdown or restricted; subdued economic activity
• Covid-19 updates by authorities across the continent

Key African events or data releases yesterday & early a.m today

• Egypt shrinks subsidized bread loaf by 20 gms, revises cost of flour
• Nigeria eyes record 12.65 trillion naira spending plan for 2021 – document
• MTN Ivory Coast CEO sees 2020 revenue rising up to 10%
• Nigeria to reopen airports for international flights from Aug. 29
• OPEC+ panel focuses on compliance with oil cuts, calls for ‘vigilance’
• G7 to consider extending debt freeze for low-income countries – US Treasury
• Nigeria’s central bank to set up $39 bln infrastructure firm with sovereign fund
• Algeria’s Sonatrach, Wintershall Dea sign MoU to boost partnership
• Congo Ebola responders end strike over unpaid salaries
• Sudan security forces fire tear gas at protesters on anniversay of power-sharing deal
• Nigeria’s $1.5 bln World Bank loan delayed over reforms – sources
• Nigeria inflation rises for 11^th month in July as import disruption weigh
• Turkey, Qatar & Germany ministers visit Libya amid ceasefire efforts
• Coronavirus banishes female inmates to far-flung jails in Malawi
• Nigeria annual inflation at 12.82% in July – stats office
• South Africa’s TFG concludes agreement to buy Jet stores, some approvals pending
• Death toll from attack on Somalia Mogadishu hotel rises to 16
• Putin, Erdogan discuss conflicts in Libya, Syria in phone call
• Ivory Coast’s main cocoa harvest to begin early, boosted by good weather
• South Africa’s embattled state arms firm appoints interim CEO
• South Africa’s Tiger Brands to sell processed meats businbess for $24.7 mln
• Egypt unemployment rate rose to 9.6% in Q2 due to coronavirus – CAPMAS
• Hit by worsening drought, Zimbabwe taps funding for water-wise farming

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