In Other African News

Trump’s Comments Hurt the Dollar Strengthening South African Rand

South Africa’s rand strengthened more than one percent in early trade on Tuesday, aligning gains by its emerging market peers as President Donald Trump criticizes the dollar bringing to life the demand for some risk assets.

The rand on Tuesday was 1.1 percent stronger at 14.3700 a dollar. The rate represents the firmest since Thursday, in what traders said was the beginning of a consolidation pattern with momentum indicators showing the unit was oversold.

The Relative Strength Index (RSI) for the rand for the three days took a dip below the 70-mark overnight indicating a reversal of the recent bear trend.

Last week, the rand dropped to a two-year low amidst the financial crisis in Turkey, which rattled sentiment towards emerging markets broadly. This also added to concerns about the impact of the U.S.-China trade spat on the world economic growth.

But with Turkish markets closed for a religious holiday and anticipated talks between the United States and China seen lowering the temperature of the dispute, Trump’s central bank comments were the main catalyst.

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The Truth Behind Russia’s military agreement with the Central African Republic

Following the killing of three Russian reporters last month in the Central African Republic, the two countries have decided to sign an agreement on military cooperation, Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu was quoted by Interfax news agency as saying.

Earlier in 2018, Russia delivered light arms to the Central African Republic’s security forces and said it deployed 175 military and civilian instructors to train them. The reporters who were killed while investigating Russian mercenaries reportedly active in the country.

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