March 28 (Reuters) – The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Friday.

EVENTS:

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe to announce its first interest rates decision for 2025.

GLOBAL MARKETS

Asian stocks fell on Friday with heavy selling in South Korea and Japan while safe-haven gold hit a record high as the latest tariff salvo from U.S. President Donald Trump stoked investor worries of an all-out trade war.

WORLD OIL PRICES

Oil prices held near one-month highs on Friday and were poised for a third weekly gain on a tightening global supply outlook after the U.S. imposed tariffs against countries buying oil and gas from Venezuela and placed restrictions on Iranian oil trade.

SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS

South Africa’s rand weakened on Thursday as markets fretted over U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariffs due next week.

KENYA MARKETS

The Kenyan shilling was stable against the dollar on Thursday, data from the London Stock Exchange Group (LSEG) showed.

AFRICA MARKETS

The Kenyan, Ugandan, Nigerian and Ghanaian currencies are expected to be broadly stable against the dollar in the next week to Thursday, while Zambia’s is seen under pressure, traders said.

KENYA IMF

The International Monetary Fund said on Thursday that Kenya’s cash shortage requires a new spending strategy as it confirmed the government requested a new program.

SOUTH SUDAN BRITAIN

Britain on Thursday advised its citizens in South Sudan to leave the country following rising tensions that have brought the East African nation to the brink of renewed civil war.

CHAD MIGRATION

The U.S. embassy in Chad has suspended the issuance of most nonimmigrant visas for 90 days, the State Department said on Thursday, in the first known international travel restrictions of President Donald Trump’s second term.

CONGO HUNGER

Twenty-eight million people face acute hunger in the Democratic Republic of Congo, a record for the country, driven by an escalating conflict between the government and Rwandan-backed rebels in the east, the United Nations said on Thursday.

SOUTH SUDAN SECURITY

The detention of South Sudan’s First Vice President Riek Machar has effectively collapsed the peace deal that ended the 2013-2018 civil war, his party said on Thursday.

((Compiled by Nairobi Newsroom))