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Investments / Markets Investors’ guide to 2020: Markets upbeat, but storm clouds gathering

Despite various geopolitical and economic challenges at the beginning of 2019, markets managed to deliver very strong returns for the year. And investors will be relieved to see that equity markets look set to start 2020 on a slightly better footing, as many of these uncertainties have been addressed to some extent over 2019. However, the US-China trade war tensions have still not reached a resolution, global recession warning lights remain flashing and geopolitical risks…

South Africa Risks Becoming a ‘Forgotten Country,’ RMB CEO Says

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa must move quickly to implement the reforms needed to salvage its status as an investment destination and breathe life into the struggling economy. “SA is rapidly becoming a forgotten country and has stopped being talked about as an investment destination,” James Formby, the chief executive officer of FirstRand Ltd.’s Rand Merchant Bank, wrote in Johannesburg-based newspaper Business Day. “It’s no longer five to midnight, it is midnight. We cannot…

Stocks Advance as Mideast Fears Ease; Gold Slides: Markets Wrap

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LONDON (Capital Markets in Africa) – Stocks rose across Europe and Asia and U.S. equity futures climbed on Thursday, extending a relief rally after America and Iran appeared to step back from a deeper military conflict. The yen and gold declined and oil steadied after a plunge. The Stoxx Europe 600 Index was on course for a third day rising as every major national benchmark increased. Contracts on the S&P 500 pointed to further gains…

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ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – NSIA Group’s banking unit plans to expand in the 12 West and Central African countries where the Ivorian company has insurance businesses. NSIA Banque first wants to establish a firm presence in the West African Economic and Monetary Union before looking “outside the zone,” Managing Director Leonce Yace said in an interview at the bank’s headquarters in Abidjan, the economic capital of Ivory Coast. The lender recently completed the acquisition…

South Africa Business Confidence Fell to Three-Decade Low in 2019

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South African business confidence slumped to the lowest in 34 years in 2019 as the country faced power cuts, delays in policy implementation, deteriorating public finances and the risk of losing its only remaining investment-grade credit rating. A sentiment index compiled by the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry showed business confidence declined to an average of 92.6 from a two-year high of 95.5 in 2018, according to…

Kenyan Stocks Seen Rising as Much as 15% in First Half on Banks

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NAIROBI (Capital Markets in Africa) – The removal of a cap on Kenyan bank-loan interest rates should help the sector spur gains of as much as 15% for the country’s stocks in the first half of 2019, according to local analysts. The November repeal of a law imposing a ceiling of four percentage points above the benchmark rate will allow banks to “price loans based on the credit risk of borrowers and thus benefit from…

Billionaire’s Letters to Congo’s Kabila Were Sought by U.K. SFO

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – U.K. fraud prosecutors sought an Israeli billionaire’s correspondence with the former President of Democratic Republic of Congo Joseph Kabila as part of one of their largest bribery investigations, a lawyer for the Serious Fraud Office said at a London trial. SFO attorney Jonathan Hall described the request at the start of the two-day trial against Anna Machkevitch, 37, who’s accused of failing to produce the documents concerning her mining magnate father, Alexander….

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