ASIA/PACIFIC
-The Australian stock market closed in the green on Monday following the broadly positive cues from global markets on Friday.
-Asian markets climbed on Monday, with Japan’s Nikkei 225 leading gains in the region, with the highlight for this week being the Bank of Japan’s monetary policy meeting starting July 30.
-Malaysia applied on Sunday to join the BRICS, the international organization comprising Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, Bernama reported.
. EUROPE
– Stocks in Europe traded higher during Monday’s premarket ahead of this week’s Bank of England’s (BoE) decision on its interest rates.
-The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) increased the key interest rate by 2 percentage points from 16% to 18%, in line with consensus expectations, at the policy meeting on July 26.
-Mortgage approvals data from the UK is the only major economic report due on Monday.
. AMERICAS
North America
– U.S. stock futures rose modestly on Monday morning as Wall Street gears up for a busy week of corporate earnings.
Latin America
-In the recent Venezuelan election, President Nicolás Maduro reportedly won another term with 51.2% or 5,150,092 votes.
– China has surpassed the United States as the primary source of automobile imports into Mexico.
. AFRICA
– Egypt signed on Sunday a deal with a consortium of Cheiron Energy and Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (KUFPEC) investing USD 120 million in the Geisum and Tawila West Concession in the Gulf of Suez to increase Oil and Natural Gas production, KUNA reported.
-Nigerian corporates shy away from capital market as cost of debt soars, Nairametrics reported.
– Standard Chartered Bank is interested in financing Uganda’s planned Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), according to a statement from President Yoweri Museveni’s office.
. MIDDLE EAST
-Beirut airport cancels flights amid fears of Israeli attack, Reuters reported.
-Qatar International Islamic Bank (QIIB) is going for a $250 million tap of an existing sukuk, or Islamic bond, of $500 million issued in January and maturing in January 2029, fixed income news service IFR reported.
-UAE’s biggest lender First Abu Dhabi Bank (FAB) posted a Q2 2024 net profit of 4.26 billion dirhams ($1.16 billion), beating estimates.
