Breaking News today –  Wednesday 16 October 2024

Business & Tech News

Oil Site Auction in DRC Cancelled: In what has been a somewhat controversial process, the much delayed Auction of 27 oil exploration sites, with an estimated 22 million barrels of oil, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) has been cancelled. The Government’s Oil ministry, the agency responsible for oil licences, cited late bids and a lack of competition as reasons for the cancellation. The auction process for the oil blocks, was launched two years ago but was cancelled because it was not as successful as expected and a new auction is expected to be held, Oil Minister, Aime Sakombi Molendo said in a statement. No timeline or further details on the number of oil blocks that will be auctioned were made available. The DRC has a wealth of mineral resources and is believed to have extensive large un-tapped oil reserves, however conservation groups have expressed concern about further exploration rights been granted.

JPMorgan Expands into Africa: The largest U.S. Banking corporation, plans to enter the Kenyan and Ivory Coast markets this year and will be looking for further expansion in Sub-Saharan Africa, according to a statement by CEO Jamie Dimon yesterday. JPMorgan, currently operates in over 100 countries. JP Morgans new office in Nairobi, Kenya, will not be a typical commercial bank, with direct public transactions, but will be used to market its banking services to businesses. The announcement was released only days ahead of a visit to Kenya by company’s CEO, Jamie Dimon who commented that “. We want to add a country or two in Africa, every couple of years or so,”. Dimon is expected to visit Kenya, Nigeria and South Africa on his tour.

Chip Manufacturers Fried: Multiple Ai and computer processing chip manufacturers saw their stock prices plunge yesterday after chip manufacturer ASML cut its annual sales forecast due to weak non-AI chip demand. AI chip giant Nvidia’s share price, dropped -4.5%, and reducing its market cap by a significant $158 billion. Other chip firms, including AMD, Intel, Arm, Broadcom and Micron, all falling between -3.2% and -5% at close of trade on Tuesday, dragging the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index down by almost 5% and impacting the Nasdaq index negatively. The U.S.-listed shares of ASML closed -16% down after the Dutch company published results ahead of schedule in an apparent error.

Market News

Markets: With few exceptions, most major markets closed in the red yesterday with Us Indices all closing in negative territory yesterday, with the NASDAQ down by -1,37%, the S&P 500 -0,76% down and the Dow Jones closing -0,75% down. The Nikkei closed -1,83% down today at 39930, while the Hang Seng is currently -3,67% down at 20318

Currencies: The US Dollar is currently trading softer at 1.0888 against the Euro, at 1,304 against the Pound, and at 149.44 against the Yen. The rand has weakened slightly and is currently trading at R17.63 to the US dollar.

Commodities:

• Gold prices are trading upwards in early trade today, and currently trading at $2,675
• Platinum has just broken the $1000 mark and is at $1001 currently, with Palladium also gaining momentum and is currently trading at $1023
• Brent crude is currently trading at $74.50 with WTI trading downwards at $70.84 currently.
• Cocoa prices continue their week-long upwards trajectory, and is currently slightly up and trading at 5800 pounds

(All prices quoted at 9H50 CAT)

Other News in Africa Today

Kenyan Court Dismisses Impeachment Plea:  Kenya’s High Court on Tuesday dismissed a court application by the Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua’s lawyers to stop the Kenyan senate from debating an impeachment motion against him after parliament voted last week to impeach him on charges of supporting the public anti-tax and anti-corruption protests in Kenya last month, an action taken with a view to remove him from office. Justice Chacha Mwita, ruled that parliament should be permitted to proceed with its constitutional mandate and that the court would not interfere. The impeachment motion was approved by a 281-44 vote in parliament last week and forwarded to the senate, which will begin hearings today. According to the Kenyan Constitution, the removal from office is automatic if approved by both chambers, although Gachagua can challenge the action in court — something he has said he would do.

Kenyan Airlines Fueling the Future from Waste: Kenya’s national airline is producing over 1000lt of diesel fuel a day that is being produced from recycling plastic containers such water and soft drink bottles and extracting the oils from the waste. The oil is then converted to diesel fuel that is utilised for the Airports ground vehicles. Authorities say the goal is to provide cheaper fuel and to reduce plastic waste pollution that has become an endemic problem in Africa. Only around 7% of plastics are currently recycled in Kenya with the rest landing up in landfills or polluting the environment.  (report source VOA)