The Markets | - Part 186

Beware MSCI’s Inertia If You’re Tracking Its Indexes: Macro View

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – MSCI’s decision to delay the return of Argentina to emerging-market status while extending a lifeline to Nigeria means investors may be shut off from the benefits of Mauricio Macri’s reforms, while remaining subject to the impact of policy inaction from Muhammadu Buhari. The Argentina decision could spark a selloff in the country’s stocks, ironically making it more difficult for authorities to maintain capital-market freedoms. Macri has ended a decade-long battle with creditors and embarked on…

Nigeria’s Half-Measures on Currency Are Only Half-Working

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – A year after Nigeria scrapped a currency peg that sent foreign investors fleeing, it’s still battling to entice them back. But trying to placate investors by introducing multiple exchange rates isn’t going to work, bond funds and Wall Street lenders including Citigroup Inc. say. To end the dollar shortage that has hamstrung West Africa’s biggest economy and oil producer, President Muhammadu Buhari and central bank Governor Godwin Emefiele will have to weaken the naira’s official rate again,…

Orange Said to Expect African Growth Trailing Expectations

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Orange SA, France’s largest phone company, expects disappointing growth in Africa and the Middle East this year mostly due to poor performance in Egypt and the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to people with knowledge of the matter. While business performance in Africa is improving when compared with last year, revenue is set to expand just slightly more than in 2016, weighed down by political and economic issues in the two…

Nigeria May End Multiple Naira Rates in Quest for Inflows

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Nigeria will end a system of multiple exchange rates that has deterred investment in its stocks and bonds, according to the head of the country’s main currency-trading platform. The central bank and Lagos-based FMDQ OTC Securities Exchange are taking a “phased approach toward a single foreign-exchange market,” according to Bola Onadele. “There is opportunity for convergence and there is no better time for it,” Onadele, also known as Koko, said…

Traders Snap Up Assets of Nation Where Default Is New Normal

Posted on by The Editorial Team

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – For a country that has missed several debt payments this year, Mozambique’s assets are performing remarkably well. The southern African nation’s currency has posted the world’s biggest gain in 2017, while the price of its overseas bonds, which the government defaulted on in January, has soared about 30 percent, making them among the best-performing sovereign notes in emerging markets. The rally — after last year’s rout — suggests investors may be…

Alexander Forbes Targets 12% Profit Growth Over Next Five Years

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JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) – Alexander Forbes Group Holding Ltd., a South African provider of retirement, investment and insurance services, plans to as much as double the pace of profit growth over the next five years. The company is targeting an increase in operating profit of 10 percent to 12 percent until 2022, compared with average growth of 6 percent between 2013 and 2017, Chief Executive Officer Andrew Darfoor said in a presentation in Johannesburg on Wednesday….

Don’t Fear the Fed, EM Currencies Can Do Well, Societe Generale

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LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) – Emerging-market currencies should comfortably ride out coming Federal Reserve monetary tightening, according to Societe Generale SA. The Fed’s slow and steady approach — expectations for hikes beyond Wednesday’s widely expected 25-basis-point move seem “extraordinarily subdued” — ensures that emerging market currencies will feel little impact, and carry trades will remain a viable strategy over the coming quarter, said Jason Daw, SocGen’s head of emerging-market foreign-exchange strategy in Singapore. “EM currencies…

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