The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Wednesday.
EVENTS:
Rwanda’s central bank to announce its key repo rate decision.
GLOBAL MARKETS
Asian shares inched ahead on Wednesday while the dollar and commodities held gains as investors shook off disappointment about U.S. President Donald Trump’s failed healthcare bill and focussed on an improving outlook for global growth.
WORLD OIL PRICES
Oil prices on Wednesday extended gains from the previous session, lifted by supply disruptions in Libya and
expectations that an OPEC-led output reduction will be extended into the second half of the year.
SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS
South Africa’s rand extended losses on Tuesday after President Jacob Zuma ordered Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan to return early from an investor roadshow, sparking speculation of an imminent cabinet shake-up.
NIGERIA MARKETS
Nigeria’s central bank has set a new naira rate of 362 for the country’s retail exchange bureaus to sell dollars to
consumers, the head of the bureau association told Reuters on Tuesday.
NIGERIA OIL
Nigeria’s crude oil exports are set to rise to 1.66 million barrels per day (bpd) in May, according to a loading
programme compiled by Reuters on Tuesday.
KENYA MARKETS
The Kenyan shilling was stable against the dollar on Tuesday but was expected to be under pressure due to end
month dollar demand from oil importers, traders said.
KENYA INFLATION
Kenya’s inflation rate will remain above the government’s target range in the next two months and then ease back
towards it, central bank governor Patrick Njoroge said on Tuesday.
SOUTH SUDAN/KENYA AID
Four of the six aid workers killed in an ambush in South Sudan over the weekend were Kenyans working for a local
non-governmental organisation, Kenya’s government said on Tuesday.
UGANDA MARKETS
The Ugandan shilling UGX= was stable on Tuesday but it was seen easing due to increased dollar demand from energy importers and foreign firms eyeing dividend payments, traders said.
SOMALIA TERROR
At least one soldier was killed and another was wounded on Tuesday in a roadside bombing blamed by regional military officials on Islamic State-affiliated militants in the semi-autonomous Somali region of Puntland.
ZIMBABWE BANKING
Barclays BARC.L is in exclusive talks to sell its stake in its Zimbabwe unit to Malawi-based First Merchant Bank
FMB.MV, the lenders said on Tuesday, as the British bank continues its exit from Africa.
IVORY COAST JUSTICE
A court in Ivory Coast acquitted former First Lady Simone Gbagbo of crimes against humanity and war crimes charges linked to her role in a 2011 civil war that killed about 3,000 people, state television announced on Tuesday.
CONGO-UN
Villagers in Democratic Republic of Congo discovered the remains of two U.N. investigators and their Congolese
interpreter who went missing this month in an area engulfed in a violent uprising, a government spokesman said on
Tuesday.
