ASIA/PACIFIC
-The Australian stock market rallied on Friday as retail sales grow, investors bet on rates freeze.
-Hong Kong leads gains in Asia as investors digested the latest report on business activity in China, which showed that activity in the private sector expanded moderately in October.
-Philippine exchange greenlights short-selling for first time, aiming to boost trading volumes, improve corporate governance.
EUROPE
-European stock markets seen opening higher on Friday, heading for best week since March after central bank pauses
-Germany’s trade surplus stood at €16.5 billion in September, down from €17.7 billion documented in the previous month, Destatis said.
-A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S, a bellwether for global trade, is cutting at least 10,000 jobs to shield its profitability in a shipping market that it sees contracting somewhat less than previously forecast, Bloomberg reported.
AMERICAS
-A federal jury convicted FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried of fraud charges accusing him of stealing about 10 billion dollars (£8.2 billion) from customers and investors.
-Merged Andean bourse gears up for bond dealing: Single market for Chile, Colombia and Peru will enable share listings from 2025, CEO Juan Pablo Córdoba todl LatinFinance.
-Colombia and Peru may come back to the bond market after Mexican hurricane, Chile insurance deal, K2 strategist tells LatinFinance.
AFRICA
-The South African rand extended gains in early trade on Friday before the release of a whole-economy PMI survey.
-Egypt raised domestic petrol prices by up to 14.3% but kept diesel prices unchanged, state media said on Friday.
-MENA equity capital markets (ECM) raised $7.5 billion in equity and equity-related issuances during nine-month 2023, declining 50% year-on-year, Refinitiv Deals Intelligence data showed.
MIDDLE EAST
-Qatari banks’ profits to remain robust in 2023, states Fitch Solutions in its recent report.
-Top oil exporter Saudi Arabia will probably reconfirm in the coming days the extension of its voluntary oil-output cut of 1 million barrels per day through December, six analysts told Reuters on Friday.
-The Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) has tied up with HSBC to develop blockchain-backed digital fixed income securities that will be listed on the local bourse.
