The Markets

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — If the first week of the month is anything to go by, the sell-in-May mantra looks set to continue in emerging markets. Despite optimism that the U.S.-China trade-war truce will broadly hold, last week was a losing one for both stocks and currencies, while local bonds were little changed. And the list of uncertainties in the week ahead is likely to ensure caution remains in the driving seat. China’s central bank said on the…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Nigerian manufacturers are struggling to stay in business because a foreign-exchange shortage spawned by the collapse in oil prices means they can’t import raw materials. The industry’s difficulties are the latest signs of strain in Nigeria’s foreign-exchange regime. The central bank was forced to devalue the naira in March as income from crude sales that generate 90% of the West African nation’s export earnings dried up. Foreign investors looking…

LAGOS (Capital Markets in Africa) — Oil’s rally ran out of steam — after prices doubled over five days — as optimism that output cuts are easing the supply glut was balanced by trepidation over what promises to be a long and uncertain recovery. Futures in New York fell toward $24 a barrel after swinging between gains and losses in Asian trading. Diamondback Energy Inc. and Parsley Energy Inc. became the latest U.S. drillers to…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — Investors are piling back into South African bonds, shrugging off two credit downgrades, a yawning budget deficit and ejection from an index tracked by trillions of dollars of funds. Bonds coming due in 2026 have clawed back all their losses for the year, while yields on 10-year securities have dropped back into single digits for the first time since March as the government attracted record bids at a weekly debt…

SUDAN (Capital Markets in Africa) — A company linked to Sudan’s most powerful militia leader is surrendering a network of mines that at one stage produced a third of the nation’s gold, as his group battles accusations of corruption and brutality. Mining ministry officials are assessing the value of the area in the Jebel Amer region of North Darfur that’s been held since 2016 by Al Gunade, a construction and trading firm owned by members…

JOHANNESBURG (Capital Markets in Africa) — Credit-rating companies should suspend their assessments for the foreseeable future because downgrades can force asset managers to sell sovereign debt and unnecessarily increase the cost of capital when economies are already facing headwinds due to the coronavirus pandemic, according to the head of South Africa’s tax agency. Some of Africa’s biggest economies, from Ghana through Angola, Nigeria, and South Africa, have had their debt assessments downgraded or the outlook…