NAIROBI, Aug 20 - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Thursday.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian equities and U.S. futures fell on Thursday, hurt by the U.S. Federal Reserve's cautious view of the economy, tensions with China and new clusters of coronavirus infections.
WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil prices fell on Thursday as major producers warned of a risk to the recovery in demand if the coronavirus crisis is prolonged, while U.S. crude inventories dropped less than expected.
SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South Africa's rand edged higher on Wednesday, extending the previous session's gains on dollar weakness and optimism over a further easing of the country's coronavirus lockdown.
KENYA MARKETS
Kenya's shilling weakened to a new all-time low against the dollar on Wednesday due to increased importer demand from the energy sector, traders said.
SUDAN CURRENCY
South Sudan, battered by years of conflict and corruption, has run out of foreign exchange reserves and cannot stop the pound's depreciation, a senior central bank official in the oil-producing nation said on Wednesday.
MALI POLITICS
France has asked on Wednesday for the immediate release of Mali's president Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, as well as of his government, detained after a coup led by soldiers on Tuesday.
MINING
Companies mining gold in Mali said they were operating as usual while monitoring a political crisis that caused the country's borders to shut and hit their share prices on Wednesday.
RATES
Zambia's central bank cut its benchmark lending rate by 125 basis points to 8.0% to safeguard financial sector stability and protect livelihoods in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, it said in a statement on Wednesday.