NAIROBI, Jan 1 (Reuters) - The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday.
GLOBAL MARKETS Wall Street advanced on Thursday and the dollar gained ground as investors closed the book on a turbulent year of pandemic, recession and recovery.
WORLD OIL PRICES Global crude prices edged higher on Thursday but lost more than a fifth of their value in 2020, as lockdowns to combat the novel coronavirus depressed economic activity and sent oil markets reeling.
SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS South Africa's rand weakened on Thursday, the final trading day of the year, with investors opting for caution as coronavirus vaccine rollouts and hopes for stimulus in major economies offset concerns about a second wave. KENYA MARKETS The Kenyan shilling KES= was unchanged on Thursday but was expected to weaken due to dollar demand from importers in sectors like energy and manufacturing, traders said.
KENYA INFLATION Kenya's annual inflation rate KECPI=ECI rose to 5.62% in December from 5.46% in November, the statistics office said on Thursday.
Nigeria's naira fell to a record low on the futures market for the five-year settlement and weakened sharply against the dollar on the spot market, traders said, on Thursday, its last trading session for 2020. SUDAN DIPLOMACY Sudan said on Thursday its forces had taken control of all of Sudanese territory in a border area settled by Ethiopian farmers, after weeks of clashes.
NIGER POLITICS Niger's ruling party candidate Mohamed Bazoum has extended his lead in the race for the presidency after Sunday's election, according to results from more than half of constituencies published by the electoral commission on Thursday.