The following company announcements, scheduled economic indicators, debt and currency market moves and political events may affect African markets on Wednesday. - - - - - EVENTS * KENYA - Central bank auctions 182-day and 364-day T-bills. * GHANA - Statistics office due to release consumer inflation data for October. * NAMIBIA - Statistics office may release consumer inflation data for October. GLOBAL MARKETS Asian share markets drifted lower on Wednesday as anxiety mounted ahead of another batch of Chinese data while strength in the U.S. dollar kept the screws on global commodity prices. WORLD OIL PRICES U.S. crude oil prices fell in Asian trading on Wednesday after industry data showed an increase in U.S. stockpiles, while fears that Japan's economy may have fallen into recession added to demand woes. EMERGING MARKETS For the top emerging markets news, double click on AFRICA STOCKS For the latest news on African stocks, click on SOUTH AFRICA MARKETS Platinum miner Lonmin led South African stocks sharply lower on Tuesday after the company gave a large discount on its rights issue, while the rand edged up slightly on strong manufacturing data. SOUTH AFRICA DROUGHT The sugar-growing South African province of KwaZulu Natal is the driest it has been in over a century, according to data provided on Tuesday by the South African Weather Service, underscoring the scale of a drought scorching Africa's most advanced economy. KENYA MARKETS Kenya's shilling closed flat on Tuesday after the central bank sold dollars to support the local currency for the second day in a row. KENYA CORRUPTION Kenya's tax authority has launched a campaign to encourage people to report evasion and to crack down on staff misconduct, it said on Tuesday, after media allegations of corruption. NIGERIA BONDS Nigeria bond yields fell sharply on Tuesday due to a liquidity surge on the money market, traders said, adding that the central bank was loosening monetary policy to try to spur credit growth. ZAMBIAN KWACHA Zambia's kwacha fell more than 5 percent on Tuesday to a new record low while its dollar bonds fell across the curve as copper prices edged towards a six-year low on concerns about flagging demand in top consumer China. ZAMBIA-TANZANIA RAILWAY China has lent Zambia and Tanzania $22.4 million to buy locomotives and rolling stock for a railway that carries copper to Tanzania's Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam, a spokesman for the railway said on Tuesday. BURUNDI VIOLENCE Burundi's political violence threatens to spiral into an ethnic or regional conflict but the United Nations is less equipped to deal with it than it was in Rwanda before the genocide in 1994, a U.N. human rights official said on Tuesday. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC France will resume withdrawing its troops from Central African Republic following elections intended to restore democratic rule following more than two years of inter-religious violence, French Defence Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian said on Tuesday.
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