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 skidded from six-month peaks on Friday as
Sino-U.S. tensions soured what had been an upbeat week,
while the euro held near a 21-month top against the
embattled dollar and gold neared a record
high. MKTS/GLOB
WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil edged up on Friday as the dollar fell to an almost
two-year low, although demand concerns stemming from rising
coronavirus cases and U.S.-China tensions kept a lid on
prices. O/R
EMERGING MARKETS
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SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South Africa's rand trimmed its losses against the dollar on
Thursday, after the central bank cut lending rates for a
fifth time in a row to support an economy strangled by the
COVID-19 pandemic. STOCKS
Nigerian stocks climbed to a three-week high on Thursday
lifted by gains in its biggest listed firm Dangote Cement,
which announced a share buyback this year. MARKETS
The Kenyan shilling KES= was under pressure on Thursday
due to market players from broad sectors of the economy
shoring up their dollar reserves after the shilling weakened
to an all time record low during the previous session,
traders said. CURRENCIES
The Kenyan shilling and the Nigerian naira are expected to
weaken in the week ahead, mainly because coronavirus
disruptions have led to a dearth of dollars. CORONAVIRUS
Uganda on Thursday recorded its first death from the new
coronavirus, the ministry of health said, making it one of
the last nations on the continent to report a fatality since
the pandemic reached it in March. POLITICS
A Zimbabwean court on Thursday denied bail to an opposition
politician who called for protests against government
corruption and rolled over a similar case against a
journalist to Friday. PRESIDENT MKAPA
Tanzania's former President Benjamin Mkapa, who served from
1995 to 2005, died in the early hours of Friday, President
John Magufuli said in a statement. POLITICS
West African leaders will hold a virtual extraordinary
summit on Monday to propose measures to end the deepening
political crisis in Mali after five heads of state met with
the government and the opposition in the country's capital
city Bamako on Thursday. COBALT
A worker at a Zhejiang Huayou Cobalt Co 603799.SS mine in
Democratic Republic of Congo has died of COVID-19 and
another confirmed COVID-19 case is being treated in
hospital, provincial governor Jacques Kyabula Katwe told
Reuters. ECONOMY
Ghana's economy will grow at its slowest rate in nearly 40
years in 2020 as it reels from the fallout of the
coronavirus pandemic, the finance minister said on Thursday,
announcing a $17.4 billion support programme. COAST ORANGE
French telecoms provider Orange ORAN.PA on Thursday
launched mobile banking operations in Ivory Coast, the third
country where it has expanded into digital lending after
France and Spain. SUDAN RIGHTS
A prominent South Sudanese economist fled to the United
States on Thursday and accused South Sudan's President Salva
Kiir of ordering a hit squad to kill or kidnap him in Kenya,
an allegation immediately denied by the Juba
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