EVENTS:

Release of the Stanbic Bank Kenya Purchasing Managers’ Index survey for June.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks rose on Wednesday as comments from Fed Chair Jerome Powell reinforced expectations that U.S. rate cuts were not far off, while the yen remained pinned near levels last seen in 1986, keeping traders wary of Japanese intervention.

WORLD OIL PRICES

Oil prices rose on Wednesday after industry data showed a bigger-than-expected draw in U.S. crude stockpiles, while the market kept tabs on flaring tensions in the Middle East.

SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS

The South African rand extended losses on Tuesday after a turbulent start to the week as markets waited to see how the new government of national unity (GNU) would approach economic reform following the formation of the cabinet.

KENYA MARKETS

The Kenyan shilling was steady on Tuesday, with ample hard-currency supply preventing a sell-off over anti-government protests that prompted the president to abandon planned tax hikes last week, traders said.

KENYA POLITICS

Riot police fired tear gas grenades and charged at stone-throwing protesters in downtown Nairobi and across Kenya on Tuesday in the most widespread unrest since at least two dozen protesters died in clashes a week ago.

BURKINA FASO SECURITY

Arouna Loure, a vocal critic of Burkina Faso’s ruling military junta, received a conscription order on Sept. 7 last year requesting that the anaesthesiologist start a month of military service four days later.

MALI SECURITY

Unidentified armed men have killed around 40 people in an attack on a village in insurgent-plagued central Mali, local officials said on Tuesday.

((Compiled by Nairobi Newsroom))