JSE opens firmer as Gold and Platinum Stocks recover Prices.

THE Johannesburg Stock Exchange opened firmer in early morning trade on Monday as gold and platinum shares recovered on higher commodity prices.

The gold price gained 0.31% to $1,092.76/oz and platinum was up 0.45% at $939.30 after the opening.
The all share was sold off by more than 2% on Friday on the expectation of a US rate hike in December.
Asian markets were mixed on Monday, with the Shanghai Composite index up 1.59%, while the Hang Seng lost 0.24%. The Nikkei 225 climbed 1.96%.
US markets were generally stronger on Friday on the upbeat US data. The Dow closed 0.26% higher.
At 9.29am the all share was up 0.60% at 53,280.30 points and the blue-chip top 40 had added 0.63%. The gold index was up 3.83% and platinums gained 1.09%. Industrials added 0.68% and financials were up 0.49%.

NSIA moves to revive Nigeria’s Commodity Exchange

The Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority (NSIA), managers of the nation’s Sovereign Wealth Fund (SWF) has expressed interest in reviving the country’s Commodity Exchange,  a process which government  authorities estimate could cost as much as $20 million.

The government has scheduled the comatose Abuja Securities and Commodity Exchange (ASCE) for privatisation, but the NSIA and industry experts fear that selling the company at its present state would come at a loss, since the assets are almost worthless.

NSIA Manager

The NSIA’s interest is therefore in pre-privatisation investments which would mean fixing the software to drive an efficient trading platform and putting  proper processes and procedures in place, till a point that the Exchange can start trading.

The Abuja Securities Commodity Exchange (ASCE) is no longer functional, having stopped trading several years back, but it has up to 60 staff who do nothing but collect salaries at the end of each month, BusinessDay discovered.

NSIA authorities are already in early talks with the government to allow them make that very important pre-privatisation investment and bring the Commodity Exchange to an operational level, in exchange for shares in the company before it is finally privatised.

Ghanaian Cost of Tomatoes Drop Further in Ghana Markets

Checks by Esoko Ghana revealed that there has been a stable supply of the local tomatoes from the growing areas such as Tuabodom, Akumadan and Navrongo.

 

A “medium size tomato tin” full of fresh tomatoes sold about GHS 13.21 dropping 31 percent in Accra.