NAIROBI, March 25 – The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Thursday. – – – – – GLOBAL MARKETS Asian equities bounced between gains and losses on Thursday as a selloff in Chinese technology shares due to concerns they will be de-listed from U.S. bourses and worries about a semiconductor shortage rattled some investors. WORLD OIL PRICES Oil prices jumped about 6% on Wednesday after a ship ran aground in the Suez Canal, and worries that the incident could tie up crude shipments gave prices a boost after a slide over the last week. EMERGING MARKETS For the top emerging markets news, double click on AFRICA STOCKS For the latest news on African stocks, click on SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS South Africa’s rand firmed on Wednesday as data showing consumer price inflation slowed in February did little to change market expectations that the central bank will not cut interest rates any further. SOUTH AFRICA INFLATION South Africa’s consumer inflation rate slowed to its lowest in eight months in February, dipping below the central bank’s target range just a day before the regulator decides on lending rates. NIGERIA OIL Price offers for Nigerian and Angolan crude continued to slip on Wednesday as the European demand outlook was clouded by new lockdown measures while Chinese buying remained muted. KENYA MARKETS The Kenyan shilling KES= was unchanged on Wednesday, with importer dollar demand being matched by supply from tea exports and remittances, traders said. KENYA VIOLENCE Three people died and ten were wounded on Wednesday after a bus they were travelling in hit a suspected improvised explosive device planted in the road in Mandera county in Kenya’s north along its border with Somalia, a government official said. CONGO ELECTIONS Supporters of two candidates in Congo Republic’s presidential election said on Wednesday that the poll was marred by vote-rigging and that the courts should annul the result. CAMEROON LGBT RIGHTS Two transgender women facing charges of “attempted homosexuality” in Cameroon were denied bail on Wednesday after a judge adjourned their case and sent them back to jail, their lawyer said. MOZAMBIQUE GAS Armed groups on Wednesday attacked the northern Mozambique town closest to gas projects worth some $60 billion, two sources told Reuters, striking ever closer to developments that have already stalled due to security problems. ZIMBABWE COVID-19 Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa and some opposition politicians received China’s Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine in the tourist resort of Victoria Falls on Wednesday as part of efforts to encourage citizens to get inoculated. SOMALIA POLITICS The security minister of a Somali regional administration said on Wednesday he had defected along with hundreds of troops and allied himself to President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed, who faces calls by rivals to quit after his term as national leader ended. For the latest precious metals report click on For the latest base metals report click on For the latest crude oil report click on

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