By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asia shares touch 3-mth top, cautious on Fed
- Nikkei hits 1-yr high as S&P 500 reaches record
- Trump talks up progress on China trade
- EU grants UK 3-mth Brexit extension
- Market sees Fed cutting rates, cautious on outlook
Oil Markets
- Oil prices edge lower ahead of inventory data
- Brent down 3 cents at $61.54 a barrel (0137GMT)
- WTI down 9 cents at $55.72
Precious metals
- Gold subdued as equities jump on trade hopes; focus on Fed
- Palladium hovers near record high of $1,808.81/oz
- Spot gold down 0.1% at $1,491.72/oz (0537GMT)
- US gold futures down 0.1% at $1,494/oz
Grains
- Corn drops for 2nd session, soybeans ease on US harvest progress
- Wheat futures up 0.1% at $5.12 per bushel (0051GMT)
- Corn futures down 0.3% at $3.83 per bushel
- Soy futures down 0.2% at $9.19 per bushel
- Rice futures down 0.5% at $11.78 per hundredweight
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Nigeria’s Buhari in Saudi Arabia for 3rd Future Investment Initiative
- Rwanda’s Kagame in Qatar for ICT conference
- South Africa’s Mabuza in China for bi-national commission; 31 Oct – 3 Nov
- South Africa’s Ramaphosa to speak at Business Women’s Association of South Africa (BWASA) event
- South Africa unemployment rate Q3-2019 [fcst. 29.1%, prev. 29.0%]
- South Africa PSCE Sep-19 [act. 6.2% yy, fcst. 7.3%, prev. 6.9%]
- South Africa M3 Sep-19 [act. 6.1% yy, fcst. 7.4%, prev. 7.5%]
- 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]
- South Africa’s credit demand growth slows to 6.19% y/y in September Humankind’s ancestral ‘homeland’ pinpointed in Botswana
- South Africa’s Gordhan to release Eskom paper on Tuesday
- Libya stops salaries of thousands of teachers without documents
- Africa Oil – Freight rates continue to ease, buoying diffs
- Tunisia central bank keeps key interest rate steady
- South Africa’s rand clings on to gains, Sasol leads stocks higher
- Algeria oil, gas export volumes fall 9% in Jan-Sept
- South Africa’s Sasol joint CEOs step down after review of tarnished US project
- 16 killed in Burkina Faso in suspected jihadist attack
- Renergen commissions South Africa’s first commercial helium plant
- Air Zimbabwe resumes flights to South Africa after suspension lifted
- South Africa rations water to save dwindling supplies
- Kenya’s Twiga Foods raises $30 mln ahead of planned expansion
- Detained Moroccan jihadists were planning sea attacks – official
- Kosmos Energy makes major gas discovery off Mauritania
- Kenya to scale back commercial borrowing, Treasury official says
- Kenya issues smart ID cards to protect fishing and forests
- South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti’s falling Q3 production, rising costs disappoint
- Ghana 2019/20 cocoa arrivals rise 7.3% to 44,000 T by Oct. 17 – cocobod
- Somalia says Shell, Exxon agree to pay $1.7 mln for oil blocks lease
- Egypt’s GDP grew 5.6% in July-Sept quarter – planning minister
- Kenya’s shilling holds steady against the dollar
- Kenya’s KenGen to delay full-year results by a month
- South Africa’s AngloGold Ashanti’s production edges higher, Ghana project set for year-end start
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters
