By Rafiq Raji, PhD
Twitter: @DrRafiqRaji
Global Markets
- Asian shares hold near 18-mth highs in holiday lead-up
- MSCI ex-Japan up nearly 5% this month
- E-mini futures at all-time highs, up 2.7% this month
- Currencies tread water, Sterling near 3-wk lows
Oil Markets
- Oil steady amid optimism US-China close to signing trade deal
- Brent down 4 cents at $66.10 a barrel (0100GMT)
- WTI down 4 cents at $60.40
Precious metals
- Gold holds steady in holiday-thinned trading
- Spot gold up 0.1% at $1,479.05/oz. (0106GMT)
- US gold futures up 0.1% at $1,482.90/oz.
Grains
- Wheat, soybeans edge higher as trade uncertainty lingers
- Wheat futures up 0.2% at $5.43-1/4 a bushel
- Soybean futures up 0.1% at $9.29 a bushel
- Corn futures flat at $3.87-3/4 a bushel
Key African events or data releases today
[Posts & comments at my Twitter handle @DrRafiqRaji]
- Ghana parliament to vet chief justice nominee
- Nigeria manufacturing PMI Dec-19 [prev. 59.3]
- Nigeria non-manufacturing PMI Dec-19 [prev. 60.1]
Key African events or data releases over the weekend & early a.m today
- Eastern Libyan force warns against transporting military equipment in civilian planes
- Egypt’s ex-military chief of staff releases after near 2-yr detention
- Erdogan says Turkey will increase military support to Libya if necessary
- Egypt, Ethiopia, Sudan views come closer on giant Nile dam – Sudanese minister
- Egypt to being gas imports from Israel by mid-Jan 2020
- Egypt reinstates information ministry in cabinet portfolio reshuffle
- Somali militants claim responsibility for attack outside Somali hotel: spokesman
- Eastern Libyan forces seize ship with a Turkish crew – spokesman
- West Africa renames CFA franc but keeps it pegged to euro
- France kills 33 militants in Mali raid – president
- Revamped West African currency to be launched in 2020 – Macron
- West Africa economic bloc agrees changes to CFA franc with France – Ivorian president
- 5 arrested in Ethiopia for arson attack on mosques – state govt
- Locust invasion threatens Somali farmers with starvation
- US says concerned as Libyan conflict turning bloodier with Russian mercenaries – official
- Turkey’s parliament ratifies security accord with Libya – report
- Merck says ebola vaccine to be available at lowest access price for poor nations
- Tanzanian police arrest activist whose employers thought had been abducted
- Cameroon grants special status to Anglophone regions
- Africa Oil – Angolan term allocations, Nigerian programmes emerge
- South African Airways has reasonable chance of survival – rescue specialist
- South Africa’s rand flat, stocks subdued in thin holiday trade
- Morocco’s CPI slows to 0.4% y/y in November – planning agency
- eSwatini opposition leaders, activists targeted in police raids
- Zimbabwe to spend $133 mln on maize subsidies after drought
- Algerians protest after new president inaugurated
- 4 MSF workers detained in Central African Republic – MSF
- First ebola relapse recorded in Congo outbreak, WHO says
- Security worker killed in attempted robbery at Harmony Gold plant in South Africa
- Kenya shilling firms, helped by remittances, subdued importer demand
- Water around Rio Tinto’s Madagascar mine is high in lead, uranium – study
- Russia concerned by prospect of Turkey sending troops to Libya – Ifax
- AngloGold aims to produce 350,000 – 400,000 oz of gold a year from Ghana mine
- Tanzania secures $272 mln African Development Bank loan for new airport
- Egypt’s ‘history of humanity’ monuments face climate change threat
- South Africa’s treasury says working to step up timeline for Eskom restructuring
- Ethiopia launches first satellite into space
N.B. Full stories of above headlines are available on Reuters