MetroBusinessNews

African Markets – Factors to watch on March 24

The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market
moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday.

GLOBAL MARKETS
The dollar recouped a little lost ground on Friday amid signs a delayed vote on President Donald Trump’s healthcare
bill would go ahead later in the day, though it remained unclear whether it would pass.

WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil prices edged up on Friday, supported by a fall in Saudi exports to the United States, but overall markets remained
under pressure on the back of a world market awash with fuel.

AFRICA CURRENCIES
The Kenyan shilling is expected to remain stable over the next week, with importer demand for dollars set to outweigh inflows, while Nigeria’s naira is likely to strengthen further in the black market on the back of central bank
interventions.

SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South Africa’s rand maintained a data-fuelled rally on Thursday sparked in the previous session by better-than-expected current account figures and a softer inflation print.

NIGERIA MARKETS
The gap between what traders bid and offer for Nigeria’s naira on the black market has widened following a series of
central bank interventions on the official market.

KENYA MARKETS
The Kenyan shilling KES= traded stable against the dollar on Thursday, with market players eyeing a monetary policy rate decision by the central bank on Monday, traders said.

KENYA BONDS
Kenya began selling a government bond exclusively via mobile phones on Thursday, a world first aimed at expanding the pool of investors in a country that needs money for infrastructure projects and where many people don’t have a
bank account.

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