The Markets | - Part 153

UBS Shuns Bitcoin Allocations Due to Threat of Crypto Crackdown

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – UBS Group AG, the world’s largest wealth manager, isn’t prepared to make portfolio allocations to bitcoin because of a lack of government oversight, the bank’s chief investment officer said. Bitcoin has also not reached the critical mass to be considered a viable currency to invest in, UBS’s Mark Haefele said in an interview. The total sum of all cryptocurrencies is “not even the size of some of the smaller currencies” that UBS…

Bonds Extend Rally Ahead of Linker Auction

Posted on by The Editorial Team

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – South Africa’s 10-year government bonds rose for a fourth day, set for the longest winning streak in two months, ahead of National Treasury’s inflation-linked bond auction, scheduled later Friday. The rand weakened against the dollar, broadly in line with other emerging-market currencies. National Treasury plans to sell 900m rand ($63.4 million) across inflation-linked bonds maturing in 2029, 2033 and 2050. This is the first linker auction with an increased issuance size,…

Tunisia SE Falls 0.4% to 6,115.94; Banque de Tunisie Leads

Posted on by The Editorial Team

TUNIS (Capital Markets in Africa) – The Tunisia Stock Exchange Tunindex fell for the third day, dropping 0.4 percent, or 26.09 to 6,115.94. The move was the biggest since falling 0.5 percent on Oct. 2. The MSCI Emerging Markets Europe, Middle East and Africa Index advanced 1.6 percent. Banque de Tunisie contributed the most to the decline, falling 1 percent. Industries Chimiques du Fluor decreased 3.3 percent, the biggest loss. Societe Immobiliere et de Participations rose 3.6 percent, the…

Bitcoin Emerges as Crisis Currency in Hotspots Such as Zimbabwe

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – About a third of the customers queuing at La Maison du Bitcoin’s teller windows in Paris aren’t speculating on the value of the cryptocurrency. They’re sending digital money home to Africa. “In many countries in Africa, there are far more cellphones than bank accounts,” said Manuel Valente, co-founder of La Maison. “For bitcoin, all you need is a phone.” Zimbabwe, where the price of bitcoin spiked to double the…

This Cryptocurrency Miner Says It Solved Bitcoin’s Power Problem

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A green-energy startup says it can solve bitcoin’s surging electricity consumption without boosting pollution, an issue threatening to halt the meteoric rise of the virtual currency. Austria’s HydroMiner GmbH raised $2.8 million after closing its first initial coin offering on Wednesday, according to its website. The cash will be used to install high-powered computers at hydropower plants, where the company says it can mine new digital currencies at a cheaper cost and…

Ivory Coast May Legalize Cocoa Farming in Some Protected Forests

Posted on by The Editorial Team

ABIDJAN (Capital Markets in Africa) – Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer, plans to legalize farming on almost 5 million acres of protected reserves to help balance the rebuilding of forests with an output of its most important export. The government wants to reclassify protected forests that have been destroyed by more than three-quarters because of unauthorized farming — most of it cocoa — into “protected agroforest” areas, according to a Forestry Ministry document obtained by…

In Topsy-Turvy Zimbabwe, Stocks to Fall on Confidence Return

Posted on by The Editorial Team

HARARE (Capital Markets in Africa) – If investors want a sign that confidence is returning to Zimbabwe following the armed forces’ seizure of power from President Robert Mugabe on Wednesday morning, they should look for stocks to fall. In Zimbabwe’s dysfunctional market, the deeper the economy has sunk, the more equities have soared. The nation’s main gauge is up 322 percent in the past year in dollars, the best performance globally, even as a cash shortage choked businesses and…

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