Marché Nouvelles

NAIROBI, Sept 5 (Reuters) – The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Thursday.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian share markets tried to regain their footing on Thursday after a steep sell-off, while a rally in Treasuries dented the dollar and lifted the yen as U.S. economic worries raised the odds of the Federal Reserve going big on rate cuts.

WORLD OIL PRICES

Oil prices edged up after plunging to multi-month lows previously as major producers may delay an output increase planned for next month and U.S. inventories fell, though the gains were limited by persistent demand concerns.

SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS

The South African rand strengthened against a weaker dollar on Wednesday, after U.S. jobs data showed a softening labour market.

CHINA AFRICA DEBT

A China-Africa summit in Beijing this week takes place as a continent slowly emerging from a series of defaults seeks to define its future cooperation with the Asian nation that partly fuelled its debt binge and now faces its own economic headwinds.

CHINA AFRICA FINANCING

Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday pledged $51 billion in fresh financing to Africa, support for 30 infrastructure projects across the resource-rich continent, and promised to create at least 1 million jobs.

KENYA MARKETS

Kenya’s shilling firmed slightly against the dollar on Wednesday, LSEG data showed.

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KENYA PRIVATE SECTOR ACTIVITY

Kenya’s private sector activity picked up in August as firms recovered from disruption caused by anti-government protests the previous month, a survey showed on Wednesday.

MTN CAMEROON

The Cameroon subsidiary of South African mobile operator MTN Group said late on Tuesday it won’t exit the country despite the seizure of its bank accounts since 2022 under a Cameroon court order.

MAURITIUS CHINA CURRENCY SWAP

Mauritius and China’s central banks have signed a three-year currency swap agreement worth 13 billion Mauritian rupees or 2 billion Chinese yuan (about $281 million), the Bank of Mauritius said on Wednesday.

(Compiled by Nairobi Newsroom)