The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian stocks were set to rise on Friday after U.S. shares rallied and the dollar eased overnight, as fears of social-media driven hedge fund selling abated and the U.S. earnings season got off to a strong start.
WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil prices were mixed on Friday as a pending supply cut by Saudi Arabia and lower U.S. oil stocks helped counter risks of slowing fuel demand due to stalled vaccine rollouts and contagious new coronavirus strains.
SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
The rand firmed on Thursday, buoyed by exporters who helped shield it from souring sentiment toward risk currencies amid fears over global coronavirus cases and concerns over South Africa's debt.
KIDNAPPING
Pirates who kidnapped 15 sailors from a Turkish-crewed container ship in the Gulf of Guinea on Saturday have made their first contact with the shipping company to discuss a ransom, Turkish state media reported on Thursday.
IMMIGRATION
Nigeria evacuated hundreds of its citizens from Saudi Arabia on Thursday after they overstayed their visas and were left stranded, two Reuters witnesses said.
MARKETS
The Kenyan shilling (KES=) was stable against the dollar on Thursday, after policymakers kept lending rates on hold the previous day.
CENTRAL BANK
Kenya's government aims to "reconfigure" its external debt, its central bank governor said on Thursday, without immediately elaborating.
ERITREA
Ali Jamac Dhoodi thought his son was working as a security guard in Qatar, helping prepare for next year's soccer World Cup. Then one day last April, officials from Somalia's National Intelligence Agency arrived with $10,000 in cash.
MARKETS
The Ugandan shilling UGX= weakened slightly on Thursday but an excess liquidity mop-up by the central bank was seen as offering support, traders said.
ETHIOPIA DEBT
Zambia and Ethiopia are the countries most likely to follow in Chad's footsteps and seek a debt restructuring under a new G20 common framework, a French finance ministry source said on Thursday.
CORONAVIRUS VACCINES
The African Union (AU) has secured another 400 million doses of the AstraZeneca (AZN.L) COVID-19 vaccine, a regional health leader said on Thursday, in a push to immunize 60% of the continent's population over three years.
CORONAVIRUS
A more contagious variant of the coronavirus first identified in Britain has now been detected in Senegal, its health institute said on Thursday, just as measures to contain the spread of the virus appeared to have stalled a recent surge.
POLITICS
Democratic Republic of Congo's Prime Minister Sylvestre Ilunga Ilunkamba said on Thursday he accepted parliament's vote of no confidence in his government, opening the way for President Felix Tshisekedi to appoint his loyalists to key ministries.
PORK
Togo will cull pigs in farms across much of the north and ban their transport following infections linked to an outbreak of African Swine Fever (ASF), the agriculture ministry said on Thursday.