ASIA/PACIFIC
-Asia-Pacific markets fell on Friday amid a downbeat tone set by U.S. markets overnight as as hawkish comments from Fed officials dented hopes that interest rate hikes are finished.
-South Korea’s top financial regulator Financial Services Commission (FSC) has not ruled out the possibility of extending a ban on stock short-selling, to avoid stock market being ‘titled playing field’ Nikkei Asia reported.
-The Industrial and Commercial Bank of China suffered a ransomware attack, the Financial Times reported. The hack disrupted market for US Treasuries on Thursday.
EUROPE
-Major European stock exchanges extended losses on Friday after the latest data on the UK’s economy showed that UK GDP changed by 0% in the third quarter of the year.
-Munich-based insurance giant Allianz SE revealed on Friday that it booked €36.5 billion in total revenue during the third quarter of fiscal 2023, up 4.5% from the corresponding timeframe the year before.
-Ukraine’s international reserves fell for the third month in a row in October to $38.97bn, under pressure from a trade deficit and delays in the arrival of fresh international aid.
AMERICAS
-S&P 500 futures were little changed Friday as traders kept an eye on Treasury yields after the broad-market index ended an eight-day run of gains, CNBC reported.
-In the past three years, Bolivia has invested approximately $1.227 billion in its oil sector, spanning from 2021 to August 2023, Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales Bolivianos (YPFB), the state-owned oil company, announced.
-The Central Reserve Bank of Peru (BCRP) has reduced the national reference interest rate to 7 percent.
AFRICA
-The Ghana Stock Exchange (GSE) recorded strong financial performance in October with a year-to-date return of 27.89 per cent.
-Nigeria’s official exchange rate is projected to weaken to N1,068.3/$ by 2025, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU). For about 10 years now, Nigeria has remained the country with the highest cement price in the world, national chairman, Cement Producers Association of Nigeria (CEPAN), David Iweta, told Nigeria Tribune.
-The Kenyan shilling slid to a historic low against the dollar on Friday, trading at 151.65/85 per dollar at 10.27 GMT, LSEG data showed.
MIDDLE EAST
-Stock markets in the United Arab Emirates closed higher on Friday, with Dubai and Abu Dhabi indices posting weekly gains of 1% and 0.4% respectively.
-Kuwait’s overall gold purchases during the first three quarters of the year experienced a modest uptick of about 300 kilograms, data from the World Gold Council showed.
-Saudi Arabia has issued regional headquarters licenses to more than 180 companies so far, minister of Investment Khalid Al-Falih told Bloomberg.
