The Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Investors added money to emerging-market exchange-traded funds at the slowest pace this year last week, another sign that the optimism from the start of 2019 is wearing thin. Inflows into U.S.-listed funds that invest across developing nations as well as those that target specific countries totaled $313.1 million in the five days through Feb. 15, a fraction of the $3.97 billion inflow in the previous week, according to data…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigerian Breweries Plc (NB) FY’18 results, top line growth came in at N324.4 billion (-5.9% YoY) for the year, in line with our estimate of N320.6 billion (+1.2% deviation). In the same vein, after-tax earnings declined by 41.1% YoY to print at N19.4 billion, although under-performing our estimate of N22.2 billion. The deviation from our profit-after-tax estimate was as a result of negative surprises stemming from higher direct costs, finance…

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) -Zimbabwe’s central bank is considering devaluing its quasi-currency as part of a raft of reforms to the nation’s foreign-exchange system, according to a central bank official. Depreciating the so-called bond notes would be an acknowledgment that the official one-for-one exchange rate is no longer sustainable. It would also mark the second major overhaul to Zimbabwe’s currency regime since October, when the central bank ordered lenders to separate deposits of U.S. dollars and…

CAIRO (Capital Markets in Africa) – Egypt is returning to the dollar debt market to benefit from renewed investor confidence in the economy after sweeping reforms and support from the International Monetary Fund. The government is offering benchmark-sized tranches maturing in five, 10 and 30 years, according to a person familiar with the matter. The initial pricing target is more than one percentage point over last year’s three-part deal that raised $4 billion across similar maturities. Egypt plans to sell as…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – With the U.S.-China trade dispute dominating headlines this year, idiosyncratic risks in emerging markets have played second fiddle to concerns over global growth. South Africa, Nigeria, Thailand and Russia each gave money managers a reminder of how quickly local issues can flare up over the past week. It happened just as some investors were starting to ask if the emerging-market trade was getting overcooked. A Bank of America Merrill Lynch survey…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s rand is most at risk of a slide among the high-yielding currencies this year even as a more dovish Federal Reserve and weaker dollar support developing-nation assets, according to Standard Chartered Plc. Domestic mis-steps and weak fundamentals in emerging-markets could quickly outweigh a supportive global environment, especially during spurts of strength in U.S. markets, Standard Chartered analysts Geoff Kendrick, Razia Khan and Samir Gadio wrote in a note to clients. “While global…