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