ASIA/PACIFIC
-The Australian stock market closed lower on Friday, as local investors gear up for the US election and the Federal Reserve rate verdict.
-Asian markets fell following the release of new Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data from China and Japan. Caixin China manufacturing purchasing managers’ index for October rose to 50.3, rebounding from September’s 49.3.
-Japan’s Jibun Bank Manufacturing PMI Index stood at 49.2 in October, representing the sharpest decline in three months, according to S&P Global.
. EUROPE
– European markets closed higher on Friday, starting November on a positive footing, after ending October with its steepest loss for a year.
-Switzerland’s annual inflation rate stood at 0.6% in October, the lowest since June 2021, the country’s Federal Statistical Office said in a report on Thursday.
-House price inflation in the UK eased for the first time in six months in October, slowing to 2.4% from 3.2% in September.
. AMERICAS
North America
– U.S. stocks rallied Friday to kick off November as Amazon led big technology stocks into the green and traders looked past the Labor Department’s closely watched report, which showed much weaker than expected job growth in the month of October.
Latin America
-The Brazilian stock market experienced a challenging month as the Ibovespa index closed October with a 1.6% decline.
-Colombia’s central bank decided to lower the benchmark rate by half a percentage point to 9.75% on Thursday.
. AFRICA
-Egypt’s net foreign assets (NFAs) fell to 473.2 billion Egyptian pounds in August from 644.8 billion pounds as of end-July, central bank data showed on Thursday.
-Algeria’s state grains agency OAIC bought around 600,000 metric tons of milling wheat in an international tender on Thursday, European traders said.
-Currency outside Nigeria’s banks surged by 66.2% in September 2024, reaching N4.02 trillion compared to N2.42 trillion in September 2023, according to the CBN’s Money and Credit Statistics.
. MIDDLE EAST
-Saudi Arabia’s public and private markets are growing in tandem, Mohammed El-Kuwaiz, chairman of Saudi Arabia’s Capital Markets Authority (CMA), told the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh.
-Qatar Central Bank issues treasury bills worth $741.3mln and the total bids amounted to QR11 billion, Qatar Tribune reported.
-UK-listed Petrofac awarded upstream contract in Bahrain to further enhance its production in the country, the lobal energy engineering services company announced on Thursday.
. COMMODITIES
GOLD
Spot gold was flat at $2,746.09 per ounce, as of 0235 GMT while U.S. gold futures rose 0.2% to $2,755.70, ahead of U.S. payrolls data, Reuters reported.
OIL
Brent crude futures, which have rolled to the January contract, climbed $1.31, or 1.80%, to $74.12 a barrel by 0128 GMT. U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose $1.35, or 1.95%, to $70.61 a barrel.
