(Adds Ethiopia)
NAIROBI, Dec 25 (Reuters) - 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
The S&P 500 ended higher at the close of a shortened session on
Thursday as investors headed into the long Christmas weekend
with hopes that an imminent stimulus agreement, a Brexit deal,
and the ongoing vaccine rollout will spell brighter days in the
coming year. MKTS/GLOB
WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil prices inched higher on Thursday, helped by late-day buying
in a low-volume session to close out the week. O/R
EMERGING MARKETS
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SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South Africa's rand was little changed on Thursday as global
market sentiment boosted by the Brexit deal was offset by a
quickly worsening fresh coronavirus wave at home. MARKETS
The Kenyan shilling KES= was stable on Thursday amid little
activity ahead of the Christmas holiday, traders
said. SECURITY
The kidnap of 344 schoolboys in northwest Nigeria had the
appearance of an Islamist militant attack. There was even a
video purporting to show some of the boys with members of Boko
Haram, the extremists behind the 2014 kidnapping of more than
270 schoolgirls in the northeast. VIOLENCE
Ethiopia's military killed 42 armed men accused of attacking a
village in the western Benishangul-Gumuz region,
state-affiliated Fana TV reported on Thursday, as the
government sent in more troops to contain ethnic
tensions. DEBT
Ethiopia will get a deadline extension for its debts, with a
new deadline set at June 30, 2021, said the Paris Club of
international creditors on Thursday. POLITICS
A Ugandan court on Thursday charged a prominent human rights
lawyer and government critic with money laundering, in a case
his organisation said was part of a crackdown on dissent ahead
of elections next month. CORONAVIRUS
Another new variant of the novel coronavirus seems to have
emerged in Nigeria, the head of Africa's disease control body
said on Thursday, cautioning more investigation was
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