Breaking News Today – 1 August 2024

Former Military Ruler Sentenced: Guinea’s Ex-military Ruler, Moussa Dadis Camara, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison for crimes against humanity yesterday. He was found responsible for the gruesome massacre of 156 people in 2009, when military troops opened fire on people attending an opposition rally held to demand a return to democratic civilian rule. Camara had seized power, after the death of President Lansana Conté in 2008, but subsequently fled Guinea and was brought back from exile in Burkina Faso in 2022 to face charges.

Nigeria Protests Expected Today: Social Media in Nigeria were lit-up with posts promoting nationwide protest action planned for today.  Nigerians are protesting a severe cost-of-living crisis the citizens are facing. There are fears of a repeat of deadly demonstrations that occurred in Nigeria in 2020. The recent protests in Kenya, which also resulted in protesters being killed and leaders of the protests violently arrested, following a new tax law being passed, have indicated that there is much disapproval of African leaders and the corruption that is so endemic in their governments. The Nigerian government has committed to avoiding violent confrontations and have demanded that protestors hold their rallies in confined spaces only. The protest organizers have however rejected this plan and the international Human Rights Watch, have commented that the officials’ response to this has suggested a troubling readiness to stifle dissent.

Olympic Highlights:

• Women’s Swimming: South African (SA) Gold medallist and Olympic record holder, Tatjana Smith, had the second fastest time in the 200m Breaststroke Qualifiers last night and sets her up for a second medal attempt in the finals today. Caylene Corbett (SA) also qualified for the 200m breaststroke final.
• Men’s Swimming: South African Pieter Coetze, had the third fastest time in the men’s 100m backstroke semi-finals yesterday.
• Handball: Egypt drew 26-26 with France in their pool B clash yesterday. Egypt, who also won their previous match against Hungary and were narrowly beaten by Denmark, will be looking to secure a quarter-final birth. Top 4 teams in each group will go through. They will face Norway tomorrow and Argentina on the 4th August and will need to win at least one more match to qualify.
• Golf- Men’s Individual Stroke Play: Christiaan Bezuidenhoudt and Erik van Rooyen will be Afirca’s only 2 representative golfers in today’s first round of the Olympic 4-day event.

Market News: The US Fed kept interest rates on hold yesterday but indicated possible easing in monetary policy at the next FOMC meeting in September. The DXY index has fallen below the 104.00 mark with the Dollar trading at 1.0830 against the Euro and 1.2858 against the Pound. The recovery in the Yen continues to gain traction, with the currency trading at 149.69, over 2.0% firmer than yesterday’s opening level. Emerging Market (EM) currencies have been affected by the softer Dollar as weaker Chinese economic data and heightened geopolitical tensions weighed on EM markets. The Rand is currently trading at R18.24 after closing at R18.20 yesterday. Today, will see the Bank of England’s MPC meeting results with markets anticipating a 25bps rate cut.

Commodities: Gold gained almost 1.6% yesterday as the Dollar weakened and tensions in the Middle East increased. Gold is currently trading unchanged at $2,445, while Platinum and Palladium are holding steady at $975 and $927, respectively. Iran’s promise to retaliate against Israel for the killing of the Hamas leader in Tehran, along with the softer Dollar, has seen the price of Brent crude jump to $81.50 this morning.