The Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A cryptocurrency expert languishing in a Greek jail may have a vantage point on a tantalizing issue — how Russians in U.S. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s crosshairs used Bitcoin to obscure their money trail. The expert, Russian citizen Alexander Vinnik, was detained last year after U.S. prosecutors in San Francisco accused him of supervising a digital-currency exchange that helped criminals launder billions of dollars. That exchange, according to cryptocurrency analysis firm Elliptic, handled some…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. and four lenders may have won approval from Nigeria’s central bank to repatriate funds in a 2017 ruling, Lagos-based Business Day reported, citing a letter signed by an official at the reserve bank. In the letter addressed to MTN Nigeria’s chief executive officer, the central bank confirms the validity of the company’s certificates of capital importation — needed to take funds out of the country — according…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MTN Group Ltd. may receive a naira-denominated refund if Africa’s biggest wireless carrier returns the $8 billion that Nigeria says was illegally taken out of the country. The South African phone company must bring back the cash after it and three banks “flagrantly violated foreign-exchange violations,” Nigeria Central Bank Deputy Governor Joseph Nnanna said by text message Sunday, reiterating a Wednesday order. The lenders have been hit with a combined $16 million…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Almost a year after MTN Group Limited thought it had been cleared over accusations of illegally taking money out of Nigeria, the issue has resurfaced with a vengeance. Late Wednesday, the country’s central bank ordered Africa’s largest wireless carrier to return $8.1 billion it says was repatriated improperly over eight years through 2015. The decision caught the company and its shareholders off guard and the shares plunged the most in 20…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – It’s been a great month, but things may be about to turn a lot grimmer for South African stocks, if technical signals are any guide. The benchmark is coming off its longest winning streak since October, rising for nine consecutive days through Tuesday. The FTSE/JSE Africa All Share Index this week revisited levels above 60,000, last seen in February, taking its August advance to 4.5 percent, set for the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The rally in emerging markets waned as concern over a confidence crisis in places such as Turkey and Argentina reminded investors of the fragile landscape for the developing world. The lira led global losses as a central bank move on overnight borrowing limits failed to bolster investor sentiment. Argentine bonds slumped as the nation asked the International Monetary Fund to speed up payments, underscoring the need to reassure markets that it has enough…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Bitcoin advanced for a fourth day, exceeding $7,000 in its longest winning streak in more than a month, and with momentum indicators suggesting the rally has further to run. The biggest cryptocurrency climbed as much as 4.7 percent on Tuesday to $7,035, the highest since Aug. 3, on course for the first close above its 50-day average since July, according to composite weekday prices on Bloomberg. Other cryptocurrencies were swept up…