NAIROBI – The following company announcements, scheduled economic
indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on
Friday.
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GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares edged down slightly but were still on track for a
solid weekly rise, as investors awaited more U.S. data later in
the session for clues on the timing of the U.S. Federal
Reserve’s interest rate hike.
WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil prices were little changed on Friday but set to end the week
slightly higher despite ample supply, buoyed by a weaker dollar,
forecasts of lower U.S. crude output and a pick-up in global
demand.
EMERGING MARKETS
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AFRICA STOCKS
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AFRICA CURRENCIES
Kenya’s shilling and Ghana’s cedi could weaken next week on
increased dollar demand, while Zambia’s currency is seen
strengthening further on dollar inflows chasing government
debt.
SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South African stocks ended slightly lower on Thursday with
Impala Platinum among the biggest fallers after the miner’s
quarterly output showed it had not fully recovered from last
year’s record five-month strike. [pro_ad_display_adzone id=”70560″]
NIGERIA MARKETS
Nigeria sold bonds worth a total of 60 billion naira ($302
million) at lower yields on all tenors at an auction on
Wednesday, the Debt Management Office said on Thursday.
NIGERIA PIPELINE
The Trans Nigeria Pipeline that carries Nigeria’s Bonny Light
crude oil to an export terminal has been shut down since May 12,
a Shell spokeswoman said on Thursday.
NIGERIA ECONOMY
Nigeria’s economy grew by 3.96 percent in the first quarter of
2015, a sharp slowdown from the same period last year due to the
fall in oil prices, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics (NBS) said
on Thursday.
Consumer inflation rose to 8.7 percent
year-on-year in April, up 0.2 percentage points from March,
marking the highest rate since July 2013, the national
statistics office said.
KENYA MARKETS
The Kenyan shilling firmed on Thursday, helped by subdued
dollar demand but traders said the local currency was expected
to weaken when importers resume buying the U.S. currency.
BURUNDI POLITICS
President Pierre Nkurunziza returned to Burundi on Thursday, his
office said, after the army chief declared that an attempted
coup staged when the east African leader was abroad had failed.
MAURITIUS COMMERCIAL BANK
Mauritius Commercial Bank Group’s (MCB) nine-month pretax profit
rose 30 percent to 5.13 billion rupees ($148.35 million)
compared with the same period a year ago, helped by higher net
interest and commission incomes, it said on Thursday.
GHANA ECONOMY
Ghana’s surprise percentage-point interest rate hike to 22
percent this week should help break the fall of the cedi
currency and boost the credibility of the central bank, its
governor said on Thursday.
ZAMBIA LENDING RATE
Zambia’s central bank left its benchmark lending rate unchanged
on Thursday and said a recent resolution to a mining tax impasse
will lessen negative sentiment in the economy and mitigate
inflationary pressures. (Reuters)